Doctors and medical professionals attend a protest over alleged rape and murder incident at RG Kar medical college in Kolkata, held at Victoria hospital in Bangalore, India, 17 August 2024. A postgraduate student was found dead at a seminar hall of the hospital on 09 August 2024, sparking state-wide protests and strikes by medical students and doctors. India's SUCI party called a twelve-hour general strike as a part of the protests. Kolkata's High Court on 13 August ruled that the probe into the rape and murder of a doctor during her working hours at RG Kar medical college must be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). EPA-EFE/JAGADEESH NV Doctors across the country have held protests and declined to see non-emergency patients following the Aug. 9 killing of the 31-year-old medic, who police say was raped and murdered at a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata where she was a trainee.
A police volunteer has been arrested and charged with the crime. Women activists say the incident has highlighted how women in India continue to suffer from sexual violence despite tougher laws brought in after the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi.
The government has urged doctors to return to duty while it sets up a committee to suggest measures to improve protection for healthcare professionals.
"Our indefinite cease-work and sit-in will continue till our demands are met," said Dr. Aniket Mahata, a spokesperson for protesting junior doctors at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the incident happened.
In solidarity with the doctors, thousands of supporters of West Bengal state's two biggest soccer clubs marched on the streets of Kolkata on Sunday evening with chants of "We want justice".
Groups representing junior doctors in neighbouring Odisha state, the capital New Delhi, and in the western state of Gujarat have also said their protests will continue.
(Reporting by Subrata Nag Choudhury in Kolkata, Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar; Additonal reporting by Sunil Kataria in Kolkata, Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow, Tora Agarwala in Guwahati; Writing by Shivam Patel; Editing by Stephen Coates)