Family members of a doctor, who was raped and murdered in Kolkata on August 9, joined the protesting medics at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and accused the Kolkata Police of attempting to suppress the case by hurriedly cremating the body of the doctor.
Participating in the protests at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the body of their daughter was recovered, the parents also accused a senior police officer of trying to bribe them after the incident came to light.
An aunt of the victim alleged that when the body of the trainee doctor was lying in front of her parents in the house, the Kolkata Police was offering money. “Is this the humanity of police?” she said during the protest.
She also alleged that till the last rites were not performed, 300-400 policemen surrounded the family. But soon after it was performed, “not a single policeman was seen there”.
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“What would the family do, how would they go home, police took no responsibility. Police were active till the last rites were performed and after that, they became completely inactive. When the body of the daughter was lying in front of the parents in the house and we were shedding tears, the police were offering money, is this the humanity of police? The police were saying that they have fulfilled all their responsibilities, is this what is called fulfilling the responsibility?” she further alleged.
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‘Kolkata Police tried to hush up the case’: Victim’s father
The parents of the postgraduate trainee said they joined the protest on Wednesday night to support the junior doctors fighting for justice for their daughter.
“The police, from the very beginning, tried to hush up the case. We were not allowed to see the body and had to wait at the police station while the body was taken for post-mortem examination. Later, when the body was handed over to us, a senior police official offered us money, which we immediately declined,” the father of the deceased doctor said.
Thousands of women across West Bengal marched in midnight as part of the second edition of the “Reclaim the Night” campaign, demanding justice for the doctor.
The “Reclaim the Night” movement, largely driven by social media, gained momentum as protests kicked off at 11:30pm, marking the second such gathering since a midnight campaign on August 14.
Across the state, from small towns to bustling cities, the air reverberated with the rallying cry: “We want justice”.
Political party flags were notably absent, and protesters were seen holding the national flags aloft, underscoring the unified call for justice beyond partisan lines.
Kolkata Police arrested a civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, for allegedly being involved in the rape and murder of the trainee doctor.
The Calcutta high court ordered the case to be handed over to the CBI in the second week of August. Later, the court ordered the transfer of the probe into the alleged financial irregularities at the hospital from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the central agency.
On Monday, the CBI arrested the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Dr Sandip Ghosh, in connection with alleged financial misconduct at the establishment.