Last Updated on 15/08/2024 by wccexam Desk
On Thursday night, a protest called ‘Reclaim the Night’ began at 11:55 pm in many places across the country to protest against the rape and murder of a lady doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College. It means – to reclaim our rights over the night. This protest was named as a protest for women’s freedom at midnight of independence. The protest held in Kolkata turned violent in no time.
The situation worsened at midnight when the violent mob broke into the hospital’s emergency building by breaking the barricades. Around 12 midnight, there was heavy vandalism in the hospital…doctors were beaten up. The miscreants also vandalised the place in the hospital premises where the protesting doctors were staging a sit-in protest and broke chairs and fans.
Vandalism inside the hospital
Hardly anything was left inside the emergency ward. Everything from the windows, beds to medical equipment was destroyed. Even the police barracks inside the hospital were vandalized by the mob. First slogans demanding justice were raised outside the hospital and then within no time thousands of people gathered.
This mob suddenly attacked the hospital. The emergency building where the female doctor was raped and murdered was also attacked. The building in which evidence of the crime was hidden in every corner was destroyed late at night. The police lathicharged and fired tear gas shells to disperse the violent mob. During this, some policemen were also injured.
Kolkata Police says that some unidentified miscreants vandalised the medical college after protesting. A group of about 40 people were among the protesters. These people perpetrated violence in the hospital. During this, police vehicles and some two-wheelers were also damaged. Lathi charge and tear gas shells had to be fired to control the crowd.
Statement of Kolkata Police Commissioner
Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal said, ‘The number of policemen deployed in the hospital was less due to which the violent mob could not be controlled. The police resorted to lathicharge and fired tear gas shells to control the mob. The police worked with full force in the rape and murder case of the female doctor but due to the rumours being spread continuously, the situation went out of control.’
Vineet Goyal said, ‘What has happened here is because of a false media campaign, a malicious media campaign that is going on against the Kolkata Police. What has the Kolkata Police not done? It has done everything in this case. We have tried to satisfy the family but rumours are being spread. I am extremely angry at the trust people have placed on us. We have never said that there is only one person (accused). We have said that we are waiting for scientific evidence and it takes time. Just on the basis of rumours, I cannot arrest a young PG student, it is against my conscience, there is a lot of media pressure. It is clear that what we did was right. Now, the CBI is investigating it. There is false propaganda that bones were broken, this was done and that was done, unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence for this.’
BJP’s allegation- TMC had sent goons
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari posted, ‘Mamata Banerjee has sent her TMC goons to an apolitical protest rally near RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. She thinks she is the smartest person in the whole world and people will not understand this trick that her goons appearing as protesters will mix with the crowd and carry out vandalism inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. They were given safe passage by the police, who either ran away or looked the other way so that these goons could enter the hospital premises and destroy important evidence areas so that it cannot be picked up by the CBI.’
The official further said, ‘They were stupid TMC goons, they could not execute the plan well and revealed their identity when they vandalised the dharna stage of resident doctors, PGTs and trainees. Why would someone who has come to show solidarity destroy the centre of protest? After all, peaceful protests took place across the state, then why did violence erupt only in RG Kar?’
Question on Kolkata Police
Questions are being raised that why such a big violent protest was going to happen but Kolkata Police did not get a clue of it. When thousands of people were gathering outside RG College, why action was not taken in time. Doctors of RG College Hospital say that the police have failed to provide them security.
Actually, allegations are being made that Kolkata Police did not investigate but covered up the matter. The doctors who saw the postmortem are saying that it was not just rape but gang rape. First, the doctor’s family was told that the daughter had committed suicide, then they were called to the hospital and made to sit for three hours. This was the insensitivity of the administration, which was trying to mislead.
While the principal of the medical college resigned on Monday after the doctors’ protest, within a few hours the Mamata government transferred principal Sandeep Ghosh to the National Medical College. After this, people started asking whether there was any reason behind the haste to show leniency to the principal. There was no trust left in the Kolkata police, that is why yesterday the High Court, while handing over the case to the CBI, said that ‘there is every possibility that evidence will be destroyed in the police investigation.
Abhishek Banerjee’s post
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee posted on Twitter, “The hooliganism at RG Kar tonight has crossed all acceptable limits. As a public representative, I have just spoken to the Kolkata Police Commissioner, urging him to ensure that everyone responsible for today’s violence is identified and held accountable, regardless of their political affiliation. The demands of the protesting doctors are fair and legitimate. This is the minimum they should expect from the government. Their safety and security must be given priority.”
The whole country and all the doctors of the country are demanding justice for the doctor daughter of Kolkata. The CBI has started investigating the case but the manner in which the family was misled by calling this rape and murder a suicide raises many questions.
On the other hand, BJP has opened a front against Mamata and has demanded her resignation from the post of Chief Minister and Mamata Banerjee is saying that the culprit should be hanged. Just a day before, the protesting doctors had accused the hospital administration of tampering with evidence through construction.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)