Washington:

Thousands of members of the Indian community were protesting in more than 130 cities across 25 countries on Sunday, organisers said, to demand justice after last month’s rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a hospital in the city of Kolkata.

The protests started in large and small groups across Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore, before spreading to cities in several European countries. Sixty were planned in the U.S.

They added to ongoing protests around India after the August 9 killing of the 31-year-old postgraduate student of chest medicine.

A suspect has been arrested along with the former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College where the victim was studying.

At one of the protests in the Swedish capital Stockholm, scores of mainly black-clad women gathered in Sergels Torg square to sing songs in Bengali and hold signs, demanding accountability for the crime and safety for Indian women.

“The news of this heinous crime committed on a young trainee doctor while on duty numbed and shocked each of us at the sheer ruthlessness, brutality and disregard of human life,” said Dipti Jain, an organiser of the global protests.

Ms Jain, now a British citizen and alumni of the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, had last month organised a female doctors protest in the UK.

The Supreme Court has listed the next hearing of the trainee’s case for Monday.

Although tougher laws were introduced after the 2012 gruesome gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi, activists say the Kolkata case shows how women continue to suffer from sexual violence.

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

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.)

Lucknow:

BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday said incidents of crime against women were “extremely worrying”, and asked political parties to rise above party politics and take “strict steps” to prevent them.

Her remarks come against the backdrop of the nationwide outcry over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and also cases of rape of girls in other parts of the country.

“The incidents of rape, murder and suicide, especially of innocent girls and women, happening in Bengal, Badlapur in Maharashtra, Bihar, and Kannauj, Agra and Farrukhabad districts of Uttar Pradesh are extremely sad and worrying,” the former chief minister said on X.

1. देश में कभी बंगाल, कभी महाराष्ट्र के बदलापुर, कभी बिहार में तो कभी यूपी के कन्नौज, आगरा व फर्रूखाबाद ज़िले आदि में भी मासूम बच्चियों नाबालिग़ व महिलाओं पर ख़ासकर रेप, हत्या व आत्महत्या आदि की हो रही घटनाएं अति-दुःखद व चिन्ताजनक। 1/2

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) August 29, 2024

“The Centre and all state governments should rise above party politics and take strict steps in this matter so that such incidents stop happening. Politics should not be done in its guise. This is the need of the hour and also in the interest of women,” she added.

2. केन्द्र व सभी राज्य सरकारें, इस मामले में दलगत राजनीति से ऊपर उठकर सख़्त कदम उठाएं, ताकि ऐसी घटनायें जल्दी होना बन्द हो, ना कि इसकी आड़ में राजनीति की जाए, यही समय की मांग है तथा यही महिलाओं के हित में भी है। 2/2

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) August 29, 2024

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

Kolkata:

The Kolkata Police have made massive security arrangements for the protest march “Nabannno Abhijan”, anticipating violence during the protest in the city today. Nabanno is the state secretariat, from where the Government of West Bengal operates. It houses the offices of the Chief Minister and other top ministers and officials. 

The protest march to the state secretariat has been announced by an unregistered body claiming to be a students’ organisation, to demand justice for the rape-murder of the 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College on August 9. 

The police say they have uncovered evidence of a conspiracy to create trouble and anarchy in West Bengal by “misusing the anger of well-meaning citizens”.

The state police claim they have information that one of individuals who called for the “Nabanna Abhijan” has met the leader of a political party at a prominent Five Star hotel. The police also claim that they have specific intelligence of a conspiracy to create largescale chaos and anarchy to provoke the police into using force. 

More than 6,000 policemen will be deployed to maintain law and order and 19 points have been identified for barricading, a top official has told NDTV. Around 26 Deputy Commissioners of Police will be posted at various points.

The barricading will start at 8 am with major deployment of forces at places like Hastings, Furlong Gate, Strand Road and Kolkata’s twin city Howrah. 

The Trinamool Congress has hit out at the BJP over the call for a “Nabanna Abhijan”. 

The BJP has claimed that under pressure, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has turned to her last line of defense – the police.

The police say they have made special arrangements for students who will be appearing for the UGCNET exams to get to their examination centres.

It is ironic that an organisation that claims to be a student body is planning to cause disruption on a day thousands of students are appearing for exams across centres in the city, the police said. 

The shocking rape-murder has sparked protests by the medical community across the country. In Bengal, thousands of doctors have been on strike since the August 9 incident and have refused to return to work despite appeals from the Supreme Court and the state government.
 

Kolkata:

The anti-corruption branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches on Sunday at multiple locations connected to former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh and his relatives in West Bengal’s Kolkata.

According to CBI sources, searches were underway at 15 locations across the city related to Dr Ghosh and his relatives.

A CBI team also reached the residence of Dr Debashish Som, Demonstrator of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, on Sunday morning, they said.

These actions follow a complaint filed three days earlier by Akhtar Ali, former Deputy Superintendent of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, alleging corruption and irregularities at the institution and specifically naming Dr Debashish Som.

On Saturday, the CBI filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Dr Sandip Ghosh based on directives from the Calcutta High Court. The investigation was initiated after a single bench of the High Court ordered the CBI to probe the alleged corruption at the medical college.

Earlier, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) from the Calcutta High Court visited the CBI office at Nizam Palace and handed over crucial documents related to the case. Acting promptly on this information, the CBI filed the FIR and submitted a copy to the Alipur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court on Saturday.

The Calcutta High Court has granted the CBI three weeks to submit a progress report on the investigation, which is to be presented on September 17.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the security of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital to be handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) while hearing the suo motu case concerning the rape and murder of the trainee doctor.

The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

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