Kolkata:

The father of the trainee doctor from Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College who was raped and murdered today said his daughter would have been alive if West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had taken action against former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandeep Ghosh in 2021.

“CBI is doing its job, we cannot say anything about this (investigation)… Whoever is connected to this murder in some way or those who are involved in tampering with evidence, all are under investigation… They are sitting in protest (protesting junior doctors) with pain, they are like my children, we feel pain seeing them… The day the accused will be punished, that day will be our victory… In the year 2021 also, many allegations were levelled against former principal Sandeep Ghosh; if the Chief Minister had taken action against Sandeep Ghosh then, today my daughter would have been alive,” the victim’s father told reporters.

Earleir today, IPS officer Manoj Kumar Verma has been appointed as the new Commissioner of Police (CP) for Kolkata following the removal of Vineet Kumar Goyal from the position.

The decision comes after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee agreed to the demands made by junior doctors protesting the recent rape and murder case at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Following her meeting with the protesting junior doctors, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that most of their demands had been met, including the removal of Kolkata CP Vineet Kumar Goyal and certain officials from the health department.

Amid the ongoing protest against the rape and murder of the second-year postgraduate trainee doctor inside a seminar room of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College on August 9, the front noted down five-point demands, which include the call for justice for the victim “Abhaya” and to expedite the investigation process in the case.

They also demanded the removal of the Director of Medical Education (DME), the Director of Health Services (DHS), and the Health Secretary from the Department of Health and Family Welfare of the West Bengal Government.

The front called for “action against incompetent and complacent police authorities” and demanded the removal of Kolkata Commissioner of Police Vineet Goyal as well as the Deputy Commissioner of Police of North and Central for administrative failure and alleged evidence tampering.

Kolkata:

West Bengal Medical Council (WBMC), on Saturday, announced the suspension of three doctors who are known to be close confidants of the former and controversial Principal of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, Sandip Ghosh.

The three doctors include the erstwhile Resident Medical Officer (RMO) of radiodiagnosis department of Burdwan Medical College, Avik De, former senior resident doctor attached to the pathology department of the same hospital, Birupaksha Biswas, and junior doctor of Midnapore Medical College & Hospital, Mustafizur Rahaman Mallick.

The common allegation against all three of them is using their closeness to Sandip Ghosh and the leaders of the ruling dispensation to threaten and harass junior doctors at their respective workplaces.

On September 5, the West Bengal Health Department announced the suspension of both De and Biswas from state medical services. Besides suspension De is also facing a departmental probe initiated against him.

On the other hand, the suspension order for Biswas was issued just a day after he was transferred from Burdwan Medical College in East Burdwan district to Kakdwip Sub-divisional Hospital in South 24 Parganas district.

Since the incident of the rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G Kar surfaced, several junior doctors have accused De and Biswas, both confidants of Sandip Ghosh, of introducing “threat culture” where junior doctors and interns were threatened by them to act as directed.

Recently, there were protests by junior doctors at Midnapore Medical College & Hospital against Mallick on the same charges of running a “threat culture” in the same hospital.

Some members of the medical fraternity have claimed that the council should have taken steps against the three doctors and at least cautioned them much before, since the complaints of threatening and harassing junior doctors against them is nothing new.

On Saturday, the council also issued a show-cause notice to Sandip Ghosh, who is currently in CBI’s custody because of his alleged links with the financial irregularities at R.G. Kar.

His registration might be cancelled if he fails to give any reply to the show-cause notice within the next three days.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

Kolkata Police has extended prohibitory orders near the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital for an additional week, until August 31.

The orders, which were first imposed on August 18, restrict meetings and gatherings of more than five people in the designated area.

Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal on Saturday issued a statement confirming the extension of Section 163 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) around the hospital. The prohibitory orders cover the area from Belgachia Road-J K Mitra crossing to some parts of Shyambazar five point crossing belt in North Kolkata.

The extension is intended to prevent disturbances and maintain peace and order in the area. The decision follows ongoing unrest related to the recent rape-murder of a woman doctor at the hospital, which has led to significant agitation.

The order stipulates that any person violating these prohibitions will be subject to penalties under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

Veteran Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, has now taken refuge in a cartoon by legendary Indian artist and humourist RK Laxman to express his anguish over the recent summons to him by Kolkata Police over his social media post on the rape and murder of a woman junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital.

He has posted that cartoon on his official X handle, featuring a youth (arguably anyone raising their voice against any evil or injustice) being dragged by his shirt collar by a policeman through the street, with passersby watching the scene.

“Of course, you weren’t spreading rumours – the charge is you were spreading facts!” read the lines written on the cartoon created on December 26, 1962.

Mr Roy expressed his amusement by posting a “grinning” emoji along with the post.

pic.twitter.com/hC2g9ZLwVh

— Sukhendu Sekhar Ray (@Sukhendusekhar) August 23, 2024

Although Mr Roy did not make any explanatory statement on his social media wall, it is easily understood that his post was in relation to the recent summons issued to him by Kolkata Police over one of the posts on his social media wall, which he had to ultimately delete.

Earlier this month, Mr Roy had posted on his social media handle a demand for the custodial interrogation of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal, in connection with the probe in the rape and murder case.

After the Kolkata Police issued two notices to question Roy for allegedly spreading misinformation through a particular social media post, the veteran politician approached the Calcutta High Court seeking protection against coercive police action, including arrest.

Later on August 20, during the hearing in the matter at Calcutta High Court, Roy’s counsel informed the court that his client had agreed to take down the content that he posted on his X handle.

The West Bengal government counsel, thereafter, informed the court that since Roy had agreed to delete the post, the police would not take any action against him and would close the matter. On the same evening the post was deleted from his X wall.

It remains to be see what the police’s reaction to the latest post by the rebel MP will be.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Health Ministry has allowed enhancement of security deployment by 25 per cent at all union government hospitals, official said, amid protests by resident doctors demanding a central law following the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital.

Officials said that apart from the standard security protocol, the deployment of marshals would also be approved based on individual demands by government hospitals after they conduct their security assessment.

Official sources, however, said bringing a central law based on the RG Kar case “will not make any huge difference” as the alleged rape and murder of the junior doctor at the Kolkata facility was not a case of patient-doctor violence.

Crimes and rapes are already covered under existing laws, they said.

They further said that 26 states and Union Territories including West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka and Kerala have passed legislations to protect healthcare personnel. In all these states these offences are cognisable and non-bailable.

“So, bringing in an ordinance or even a Central law, that too based on the RG Kar case which was not a patient-doctor violence incident, will not make any huge difference,” an official source said.

They said they have held meetings with some Residents Doctors’ Associations and have explained these aspects to them too.

More so, a committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to look into various aspects of security and facilities at hospitals for residents like duty room, working hours and conditions, and canteen services.

“Hospitals being public facilities cannot be turned into a fortress. We have urged the doctors to call off their strike because patient care is getting affected,” an official source said.

The ongoing doctors’ strike in the national capital over the Kolkata incident completed a week on Sunday, causing difficulties for patients.

Doctors across the country have been demanding quick enactment of a special law to deal with violence against healthcare personnel and implementation of improved safety protocols within medical facilities to ensure a secure working environment for all medics.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “benign” intervention in realising their demands that includes a central law to check violence against healthcare personnel and declaring hospitals safe zones, like airports, with mandatory security entitlements.

Late Sunday, the resident doctors here announced that their strike will continue and decided to provide elective OPD services in around 36 specialities, including medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, ophthalmology and orthopedics, to patients outside Nirman Bhawan on Monday.

They said emergency services will continue as before at hospitals.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:
Kolkata-based rival football fans hit the streets today in a huge protest to seek in the rape-murder case of a trainee doctor. Sunday’s Derby match between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan was cancelled due to concerns over possible mob violence.

Here’s your 10-point cheat sheet to this big story

In caustic comments directed at the West Bengal government after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital and the subsequent vandalism in the campus, Governor CV Ananda Bose has said “vandals and scandals” are marring civic life in the state.

Mincing no words in a wide-ranging interview with NDTV on Friday, the West Bengal governor held Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responsible for the situation in the state, claimed women medical students have told him that their families want them to leave the profession, and said it was disheartening that such incidents were taking place in a land where one of its most illustrious sons had spoken of the mind being without fear.

Mr Bose also said that he has opened a home in the Raj Bhavan, named after the 31-year-old trainee doctor who was raped and killed at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last week. The woman has been given the name ‘Abhaya’ (fearless) and the governor said students who feel threatened will be valued guests at the ‘Abhaya Home’. 

To a question on the politics that has come to surround the handling of the investigation and the protests by doctors and medical students, the governor said, “Scandals and vandals are marring the civic life of Bengal. I was interacting with some medical students. They told me, ‘Please deliver us from the fear psychosis. Please give us protection. We have no security inside the campus and now there is no security outside.’ That is the wailing of the youth, particularly those in the medical profession.”

“Some of the girl students told me they have nowhere to go, they have no security. ‘Our parents are asking us to leave the profession, give back the bond money. Come back. Life is more important than this,’ they told me,” he said, adding that a girl was afraid the “goons” would follow her to her rural posting. 

‘What Bengal Thinks Today…’

Stating that youth are neither creations of the past nor custodians of the present, Mr Bose said they are the creators of the future and it was distressing to see them having to plead for their security like this. 

“What happens on the street in the name of politics is none of my business. But the fact remains that there is a growing fear in Bengal’s society. There is violence everywhere. And all this is happening in Bengal, about which Gopalkrishna Gokhale once said, ‘What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’. Is this the same Bengal about which Rabindranath Tagore said, ‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high’? Democracy is plummeting into mobocracy. That is the distressing spectacle that we see around us. That’s what worries me as a governor,” he said.

Abhaya Home

The governor said he has faith in the CBI, which is investigating the case, and detailed a three-pronged approach that he has taken to ensure that the students’ grievances are addressed.

He said he has utilised his powers under Article 167 of the Constitution and given instructions to the chief minister, apart from taking up the matter with the Centre.

The third measure, an interim one, is the opening of the ‘Abhaya Home’ at Raj Bhavan, the governor’s official residence. 

“Any student who feels threatened can come here. They will be honoured guests, valued guests of the governor. Whatever other long-term measures are to be taken, I have already taken up with the state government as well as with the central government, including adequate legislation guaranteeing security for medicos and paramedics… Everything that is possible for confidence building will be done,” Mr Bose emphasised.

President’s Rule?

Employing wordplay and keeping his cards close to his chest while answering a question on the opposition’s demand for President’s Rule in West Bengal, the governor said, “Demand is demand, let’s see what the supply is. As governor, I would like to be circumspect on such issues. The Constitution has many options. I reserve my options at this moment… I do not want to come out in the public domain about what I’m going to do next under the Constitution of India”. 

‘Chief Minister Responsible 1st, 2nd and 3rd’

Holding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responsible for what is happening in West Bengal, the Governor said that while the cabinet has collective responsibility, the buck stops with her. 

“The cabinet has collective responsibility. Whatever happens in the state, the first responsibility is that of the chief minister, the second responsibility is that of the chief minister and the third responsibility is that of the chief minister,” he said.

Mr Bose insisted he has been getting frantic calls from medical professionals all over India, who have told him they are afraid. 

“The medical fraternity stood as a one-man army against Covid and saved this country. We owe it to them. They don’t deserve such treatment. It is said medicines can cure diseases but only a doctor can cure patients. That is the importance of the medical fraternity, including the paramedics. We cannot let them down,” he stressed. 

Kolkata:

A mob has vandalized a government hospital in Kolkata during a midnight protest against the recent rape and murder of a doctor. Crucial infrastructure at the emergency ward at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was destroyed, suggest local reports.

A student at the hospital said the “outsiders” were part of the mob and that they were safe now.

A huge crowd had assembled on the hospital campus to mark their protest – part of a nationwide agitation to “reclaim the night” and make it safer for women.

As the protest turned violent, the cops fired tear gas and resorted to lathi-charge the agitators to bring the situation under control. Riot control police have also been deployed.

Stone pelting was also reported from the hospital.

Barricades erected by the cops have been taken down by the protesters who are demanding justice for the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee. A bike was also set on fire outside the government-run hospital.

A huge crowd had assembled at the hospital just before midnight to mark their protest against the incident that has shaken the country.

Kolkata Police chief Vineet Goyal, who reached the hospital around 2 am, denied charges of midhandling of the case by cops. “We have not tried to save anyone, the media ran a malicious campaign,” Mr Goyal told reporters early Thursday night.

The doctor was found dead on August 9 morning. Her autopsy confirmed later she was raped and murdered while on duty, sparking nationwide protests and strikes by resident doctors.

A civic volunteer was arrested a day later by the cops in the case. The CBI has taken over the probe into the case after a High Court order.

New Delhi:

Hours after stating that the strike which began after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata would continue, a key doctors’ body announced on Tuesday night that the agitation has been called off. Many other organisations, including the resident doctors’ association of the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, have, however, said that the strike will go on.

The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) said the decision to call off the strike was taken after a meeting with Union Health Minister JP Nadda and that their demands had been met, including one seeking an assurance that the Central Healthcare Protection Act would be passed to curb attacks on medical personnel.

In a statement, FORDA said, “as requested”, it will be part of a committee on the Central Healthcare Protection Act, work on which will start within 15 days. It said it had decided to call off the strike on Wednesday morning in the interest of patient welfare.  

Around 11 pm, soon after the FORDA statement, the health ministry posted on X that Mr Nadda has welcomed the organisation’s decision and all their concerns regarding the safety of healthcare workers would be addressed.  

“Union Health Minister, Shri @JPNadda met with the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (@FordaIndia) delegation today.  He welcomed their decision to call off the strike in the public interest and assured them that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare will address all their concerns to ensure a safer and better work environment,” the post said.

Union Health Minister, Shri @JPNadda met with the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (@FordaIndia) delegation today.

He welcomed their decision to call off the strike in the public interest and assured them that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare will address all… pic.twitter.com/RqheiRVF1d

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) August 13, 2024

Differing with FORDA, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) said most of the resident doctors’ associations (RDAs) are with it and would continue the strike along with FAIMA and AIIMS Delhi. It said a national RDA meeting was attended by over 90 representatives. 

In a post on X, the RDA of AIIMS said the strike would continue until they got a “complete assurance” about the safety of doctors through strict laws like the Central Healthcare Protection Act.

“The AIIMS RDA will continue their indefinite strike, including the suspension of academic activities, elective OPDs, ward services, and OT services. However, emergency services, ICUs and emergency OT will remain operational,” the association posted on its handle.

“AIIMS RDA and other RDAs will continue the strike till we get complete assurance on safety and security of doctors nationwide through strict laws that is CPA (central protection act),” it added.

The Resident Doctors of Maharashtra (MARD) and Junior Doctors’ Associations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh also said they would not call off the strike as did associations in AIIMS in Patna, Bhubaneswar, Rishikesh and Mangalagiri, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru, PGI Chandigarh, JIPMER, SGPGI Lucknow, IMS BHU, ESIC Joka, KGMU Lucknow and the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.

Demands

The strike began on Monday, three days after the body of a 31-year-old post-graduate trainee, who was working at Kolkata’s renowned state government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, was found inside a seminar hall in the institution. She was raped and murdered, and Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer working with the Kolkata Police, has been arrested for the crime.

Apart from sexual assault, her post-mortem report revealed that several injuries were inflicted on her before she was smothered to death.

The doctors had demanded that the probe into the rape and murder be handed over to the CBI, which was met on Tuesday through a Calcutta High Court order. An assurance on the Act remained a hurdle, however, and FORDA had also posted around 6.30 pm that the strike would continue.

“No assurance on Central Healthcare Protection act- No call off! OUR DEMANDS still stand incomplete,” the post read.

The protests are taking place in several cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, and, as part of the strike, doctors had said all elective services would be halted. Patients were affected in many hospitals, including some in Uttar Pradesh, where videos emerged of them banging on the doors to get treatment as they had travelled from different cities. 

Comprehensive Framework

The Central Healthcare Protection Act has been a long-standing demand of doctors across the country. They have sought the introduction of a bill which provides a comprehensive framework as well as severe penalties for those who assault or intimidate doctors. 

Among the other inclusions in the bill, the doctors want swift investigation and prosecution of such cases and the setting up of committees in each hospital to tackle violence against medical professionals. 

While 19 states have enacted legislation to protect healthcare workers, beginning with Andhra Pradesh in 2007, the doctors have asked for a central Act to ensure uniformity as well as protection across the country. 

The demand was initially sparked by attacks on doctors by relatives of patients who alleged that they were not given proper healthcare and blamed poor outcomes on negligence by medical professionals.

Protests have taken place over the issue several times and, during the latest agitation, the doctors also asked for the setting up of fast-track courts to bring the guilty to book in cases of violence against healthcare professionals.