Medico’s ‘rape and murder’ spark off protests

The alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor, studying second year post graduation, at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata sparked off protests by resident doctors in West Bengal.

They demanded the resignation of the principal, dean and other authorities, compensation to the doctor’s family and also an apology from the Kolkata police.

The police arrested a ‘civic volunteer’ and the Sealdah court sent him to 14-day custody. The cops caught hold of the accused by a Bluetooth headphone that was retrieved from the place of crime.

The victim was found partially clothed inside a seminar hall of the state-run RG Kar Medical College.

Her autopsy report showed signs of sexual assault before she was killed between 3 am and 6 am.

Reports in the media said that the civic volunteer had access to every department of RG Kar Hospital. On Thursday, at 11 pm, he drank alcohol and returned at 3 am, after which the young woman doctor was supposedly raped and smothered to death.

The victim, a student of the chest medicine department, had been on duty on Thursday night.

The same night, she spoke to her parents around 11 pm and had dinner at 2 am. The woman doctor had entered the seminar hall to study and rest.

On Friday, her body was found in the seminar hall. Police also said that the neck bone of the doctor was also found broken. “She was first stragulated and then smothered to death,” police said.

Political parties condemned the incident and hurled accusations while doctors and nurses led the protests. A few political leaders alleged that the civic volunteer was made the scapegoat in the case. It is being suspected that several others were also involved in the rape and murder. CPI(M)’s Dipsita Dhar questioned: “Isn’t this arrest just for covering the fish with vegetables?”

On Sunday, Resident Doctors’ Association AIIMS staged a candle march from JLN stadium to AIIMS, in support of the post graduate doctor in Chest medicine department of the RG Kar Medical College.

Cricketer Sourav Ganguly also condemned the rape and murder of the young woman doctor.