Fresh protest in Kolkata over doctor’s rape and murder

People from all walks of life — alumni of educational institutions, artistes, film personalities, rickshaw-pullers and junior doctors — separately hit the streets of Kolkata tonight in continued protest over the rape and murder of a medic in RG Kar Hospital a month ago.
In a jolt to chief minister Mamata Banerjee government, a lawmaker of her party TMC Jawahar Sircar announced his decision to resign from parliament and quit politics in protest against the incident and “corruption’ in the party.
Demanding the arrest of all culprits in the case, an emotional mother of the post-graduate trainee, whose body was found in R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, said she had one child and now all the protesting medics are her children.
In south Kolkata, around 4,000 former students of over 40 schools, a large number of them women, walked a distance of 2 km demanding justice for the victim. The former students of various ages chanted ‘we want justice’ as they walked along Rash Behari Avenue to the crossing of Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Road from Gariahat in south Kolkata.
Singing the iconic composition of rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam: “Karar oi louho kopat, bhenge phel korre lopat,” the ex-students of institutes like Binodini Girls School, Mitra Institution, Garfa High School, Carmel High School and St John’s Diocesan took part in the procession.
At another rally from north Kolkata’s Kumartuli locality, clay artistes took out a rally along Rabindra Sarani to Shyambazar five-point crossing with a girl dressed as Goddess Durga leading the procession.
Singing Arijit Sing’s song ‘Aar kabe’ (how long) in solidarity with sexually violated women, the protesters held aloft placards demanding speedy investigation and justice in the R G Kar murder-rape incident.
Nearly 100 people with their hand-pulled rickshaws also rallied from Hedua Park to College Square in north Kolkata.
“We demand justice for Abhaya – who is our daughter,” said Rameshwa Shaw, a rickshaw puller who is originally from Darbhanga in Bihar.
Hundreds of junior doctors of state-run Nilratan Sarkar Hospital in central Kolkata took out a rally from Sealdah to Esplanade in the heart of the city. The parents of the murdered doctor were present at the spot in Esplanade where the rally culminated.
The victim’s mother said “whenever I think about the torment, the pain experienced by my daughter on that night, I shudder. She had dreams to serve the society, Now, all these protesters are all my children.”
Junior doctors of R G Kar hospital formed a human chain and sang the national anthem holding the tri-colour. They were joined by other citizens near a stage of CPI(M)’s frontal wings Students Federation of India and Democratic Youth Federation of India.
At Hazra crossing in south Kolkata, several members of the Bengali entertainment industry sat on a dharna demanding justice for the deceased medic. They came to the spot in a procession from Tollygunge to Hazra, a distance of over 2 km.
Protest rallies were also held in several other places in West Bengal.
A scuffle broke out in one such march at Naihati in North 24 Parganas district after a group of youths, allegedly associated with ruling Trinamool Congress, barged into the rally.
“The group of men snapped the wire of a loudspeaker fitted on the top of a vehicle which was part of the rally and beat up some of the participants,” one of the protestors alleged.
Meanwhile, thousands of people were expected to hit the streets in various parts of the state at midnight tonight in the third edition ‘Reclaim the Night’ campaign. In the past, such events were held on August 14 on September 4. End