Thousands of Indians are outraged and demonstrating after a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered on August 9 at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The protests started on Wednesday night after a mob vandalized RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, where the crime occurred, during a large-scale “Reclaim the Night” march.
The march, which saw tens of thousands of women demanding the right to live without fear, took place in Kolkata, with smaller protests also held in cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful, but tensions escalated when a group of unidentified men stormed the hospital, ransacking its emergency ward and damaging equipment. Police arrested 19 individuals in connection with the attack.
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In response to the violence, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which is the country’s largest organization of doctors, announced withdrawing all medical services in pursuit of justice over the incident as the country remains in shock.
17 th August 6am to 6 am 18 th August: pic.twitter.com/wVt5RtH8qx
— Indian Medical Association (@IMAIndiaOrg) August 16, 2024
Multiple medical unions in both government and private systems have backed the strike, reports said.
Indian media have reported that the murdered doctor was found in the teaching hospital’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a brief rest during a long shift.
An autopsy confirmed sexual assault. Doctors say the circumstances of the rape point to the vulnerability of medics left without proper protection and facilities, Aljazeera reported.
“Though police have detained a man who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, state government officers have been accused of mishandling the case,” the network said.
This would not be the first time Indians are protesting over an incident of this kind. In 2012, when a young woman was gang raped and murdered on a bus in Delhi, many took to the streets in nationwide protests over the country’s failure to tackle sexual violence against women.
There were more than 31,000 reported rapes in India in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
