- Thursday, December 26, 2024
The victim’s father regretted that the people who were responsible for his daughter’s safety, failed to discharge their duty
By: Shajil Kumar
THE FATHER of the Kolkata doctor – who was raped and murdered – has alleged that more than one person was involved in the ghastly crime.
He told NDTV that all the people he had spoken to, including doctors, agreed with this opinion.
The Kolkata doctor was working at the state-run RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata and was found murdered inside the seminar hall on August 9.
She had gone to there to rest after a 36-hour-long shift.
He regretted that the people who were responsible for his daughter’s safety, failed to discharge that duty.
He said he is not satisfied by the investigation conducted by the state government.
“Early on I had full faith in her (Mamata Banerjee), but now no. She is asking for justice but what is she saying that for? She can take charge of that, she is doing nothing,” he told NDTV.
The victim’s mother said all the schemes by Mamata Banerjee such as Kanyashree scheme, Lakshmi scheme are pseudo.
“Whoever wants to avail these schemes, before availing them kindly see if your Lakshmi at home safe,” she remarked.
The parents also voiced concerns about the handling of their daughter’s body, alleging that it was not in the same condition initially as it was found in the seminar hall of the facility, hours after the incident.
“We decry any bid to muzzle the voice of the people, to stop the movement for justice as not one person is involved in the incident. We hope the CBI probe will unravel the truth,” the father told reporters in North 24 Parganas district on Saturday.
When asked about the condition in which they found their daughter’s body, the parents shared troubling details. The mother said, “We were told by some people that there was no cloth on some part of the body.”
Suo motu case by apex court
The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the case and will take it up on August 20, even as junior doctors in some states, including West Bengal and Delhi, remained off duty on Sunday disrupting healthcare services.
According to the cause list of August 20 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear on Tuesday a matter titled ‘In Re: Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and related issue’.
The grieving parents of the victim have criticised the West Bengal government for attempting to stifle the public outcry despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s protests against the incident.
Health services hit
In West Bengal, healthcare services remained affected across the state as agitating junior doctors at state-run hospitals continued their cease-work demanding justice for the victim.
As the outpatient departments (OPDs) at government hospitals are closed on Sundays, the rush was less even as senior doctors were attending the emergency department to provide treatment to the visiting patients.
“…We will continue with our protest till our sister gets justice and the government arranges total security for us,” an agitating doctor told PTI.
In the national capital, the resident doctors’ strike at several government hospitals entered its seventh day.
Football fans join protest
Keeping their bitter rivalry aside, and braving relentless downpour, thousand of fans of Kolkata’s ‘Big Three’ football clubs – Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting – came together on Sunday to protest against the rape and murder of the doctor.
Never before in the history of Kolkata Maidan, the fans of the three rival clubs were seen together fighting for a common cause as they were also seen held up and put inside a lock-up van by the police.
An East Bengal supporter with the red and gold was seen sitting on the shoulders of a Mohun Bagan fan, passionately clapping and shouting slogans, something that aptly summed up the mood.
AIIMS doctors plea
The resident doctors’ association (RDA) of AIIMS on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention for enactment of a central law via an ordinance to protect healthcare workers and institutions across the nation.
The body has also urged for restoration of law and order at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata where a postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and killed.
The AIIMS RDA also drew the prime minister’s attention to the subsequent vandalism at the hospital and the “worrying rise in violence against doctors, healthcare workers, and medical institutions” across the country.
Hospitals, like temples, are sanctuaries where healing and hope are nurtured, doctors of the Centre-run medical institution said in their letter.
“It is with a sincere and earnest plea that we request your support in ensuring the protection of these sacred spaces,” the letter said. (Agencies)
