Crime
Indian Doctors Hold National Strike Over Colleague's Rape and Murder in Kolkata
Indian doctors stage national strike following the rape and murder of a female colleague in Kolkata. The protest demands justice, better protection for women, and increased security at hospitals.
3 min read
Originally published by nationnews.com (opens in new tab)
Doctors in India have held a national strike, escalating the protest against the rape and murder of a female colleague in the West Bengal city of Kolkata.
More than a million were expected to join the strikes, as hospitals and clinics across the country turned away non-emergency patients.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) described last week’s killing as a “crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of safe spaces for women” and asked for the country’s support in its “struggle for justice”.
Protests against the attack and calling for the better protection of women have intensified in recent days after a mob vandalised the hospital where it happened.
In a statement, the IMA said emergency and casualty services would continue to run. The strike ended at 06:00 local time on Sunday (00:30 GMT).
The association’s president, R. V. Asokan, told the BBC doctors have been suffering and protesting against violence for years, but that this incident was “qualitatively different”.
If such a crime can happen in a medical college in a major city, it shows “everywhere doctors are unsafe”, he said.
Doctors at some government hospitals announced earlier this week that they were indefinitely halting elective procedures.
The IMA also issued a list of demands including the strengthening of the law to better protect medical staff against violence, increasing the level of security at hospitals and the creation of safe spaces for rest.
It called for a “meticulous and professional investigation” into the killing and the prosecution of those involved in vandalising, as well as compensation for the woman’s family.
The rape of the 31-year-old female trainee doctor has shocked the country.
Her half-naked body bearing extensive injuries was discovered in a seminar hall at R G Kar Medical College last week after she was reported to have gone there to rest during her shift.
A volunteer who worked at the hospital has been arrested in connection with the crime.
The case has been transferred from local police to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following criticism at the lack of progress.
More incidents of rape have made headlines in India since the woman’s death and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that “monstrous behaviour against women should be severely and quickly punished”.
The woman’s rape and killing has sparked a political blame game in West Bengal, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the governing Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) of orchestrating the attack.
