Kolkata Doctor Rape-Murder Case: Judicial inquiry, resignation of RG Kar Medical College officials in demands

KOLKATA: Agitating resident doctors at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, where a junior doctor was raped and murdered last Friday, held a general body meeting on August 14 and drew up a fresh charter of demands. Included in the six demands is a judicial inquiry into the case and the resignation of all senior administrators of RG Kar Medical College.

The resident doctors were especially incensed by the “sudden” renovation of a sleep-study room just across the seminar room where the assault occurred. Students see this as an effort to tamper with evidence, just after the Kolkata High Court handed the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. “The renovations for the sleep study room suddenly commenced yesterday,” said Aniket Mahata, a student of anaesthesiology doing his internship at RG Kar Medical College. “The room where the renovation started is directly across from the seminar room where the incident occurred on Friday. There were doctors supposedly in the room to rest that night but we are still left questioning the motivations behind these sudden renovations.”

The protesters have also said that they will cease work in all emergency and non-emergency services in all healthcare facilities of West Bengal until their demands are met.

Kolkata Doctor-Rape Murder Case: Demands

The protesting doctors are also angry about the alleged delay in sharing findings related to the investigation, especially the post-mortem report, with the resident doctors.

Participants in the general body meeting agreed upon six demands. These are the following:

• A judicial inquiry into the case, arrests within August 14 and capital punishment for the culprits. They asked that the evidence gathered be shared with their “nominated representatives” from RG Kar’s Resident Doctors’ Association.

• Written apologies and resignation of all higher authorities including principal, medical superintendent-vice-principal, dean of students’ affairs, head of respiratory medicine and assistant superintendent on duty that day. The doctors have specified that they do not want these officials reinstated into positions of authority in any other institution for the remainder of their service – a reference to the principal, Dr Sandip Ghosh, who, within hours of resigning from RG Kar, was placed in Calcutta National Medical College.

• Lifelong support for the victim’s family.

• “Adequate workplace security measures in all medical colleges and healthcare facilities (including CCTV, security guards male and female, police picketing and patrolling, and proper on-call rooms) with immediate effect,” the list of demands asks.

• A public apology from Kolkata Policy for the action on student and junior doctors on August 10.

• Strict action by the Commissioner of Police against the alleged “digital defamation that is being circulated on social media".

The most concerning aspect of this tragic incident is the lack of proper screening and oversight at that time. No one knows about the number of people who entered the ward during that period, Dr Anshuman Mitra, secretary of the central committee, medical service centre, said: “The West Bengal government and administration took an alarming amount of time to decide on the necessity of a judicial magistrate inquest. Furthermore, the delay in sharing the post-mortem report raises suspicions that these delays are intended to destroy or tamper with evidence. Anyone involved in this case should be subject to capital punishment.”