Kolkata doctor rape-murder: Mayawati demands safety measures at every level

NEW DELHI: Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati on Tuesday demanded strict punishment in cases of crime against women and urged for adequate safety arrangements at every level. Her statement came in the wake of the recent the brutal rape and murder case of a woman doctor at a hospital in Kolkata, which has triggered nationwide protests. Calling the incident at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in the West Bengal capital "very sad and shameful", Mayawati took to X to voice her concerns in the matter. "This is a very important national issue related to the safety and respect of women working in government, non-government or any other field of life, about which everyone needs to be aware and cautious, so that such very sad and shameful incidents like the one of the female doctor of Bengal do not happen," she said in a post on X in Hindi. "To prevent such heinous crimes from happening across the country, it is very important for the Central and state governments to make appropriate sensitive arrangements at every level as well as take strict and prompt action against the culprits," the BSP supremo added.

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Resident doctors of government hospitals of several states held protests on Monday against the rape and murder of the female doctor in Kolkata, paralysing services such as OPDs (out-patient departments) and non-emergency surgeries. The stir was in response to a call from the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA), which said, "The strike will not be lifted until justice is served and our demands are met." The association on Monday announced an extension of its indefinite strike after a meeting with Union health ministry officials failed to reach any resolution. Meanwhile, a doctors' association in Uttar Pradesh has written to Union Health Minister J P Nadda, pressing for security measures within medical institutions, even as medicos on Tuesday continued protests in the state over the Kolkata incident. The protests are being held for the second day in a row at medical colleges in the state from Greater Noida in the west to Varanasi in the east and cities like Kanpur, Jhansi, Agra, Gorakhpur besides state capital Lucknow.