West Bengal medics unhappy with CBI probe, announce slew of protests

We will take out a rally in Kolkata on November 9 from College Square to Esplanade along with members of civil society organisations, say the protesting junior doctors

Kolkata: Almost three months after the rape and murder of a medic at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, junior doctors said they are not happy with the pace of probe by the CBI into the incident and announced a slew of fresh agitations.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum was also dissatisfied with the central probe agency since the charge sheet it filed before the Supreme Court in the medic’s murder case named only one person as accused, who was arrested by the police before the CBI took over the investigation on a Calcutta High Court order.

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“We will take out a rally in Kolkata on November 9 from College Square to Esplanade along with members of civil society organisations. There will be similar rallies in different parts of West Bengal,” Forum spokesperson Debashis Halder said.

A mass convention will be also held on November 9 on Rani Rashmoni Avenue in Esplanade area demanding justice for the murdered medic. “We are also giving a call to light lamps at every locality of Bengal on November 4,” Halder said.

He said that the junior doctors feel from media reports that the role of “other perpetrators” of the crime has not been fully spelt out in the CBI charge sheet which only named one person directly involved in the crime. “Has the role of other arrested persons including former (RG Kar hospital) principal Sandip Ghosh been entirely investigated?” Halder asked.

Ghosh was initially arrested in a related case of financial irregularities at the hospital when he was at the helm there. He, however, was later linked to rape and murder case. Voicing dissatisfaction over the pace of the CBI investigation, Halder said that the junior doctors apprehend that such a probe may help the accused get bail.

“Why such a routine kind of investigation was held? We wish to know what steps the central agency has undertaken against higher authorities in the hospital and whether the sleuths talked to higher-ups in the Health Department,” Halder said.

He said the junior doctors had organised a rally to the CBI office here before Diwali to press for expediting the probe, but given the present situation, they are “forced to intensify” their stir. The ruling Trinamool Congress criticised the junior doctors for resorting to agitation again.

Claiming that the agitation by junior doctors is lacking direction, senior TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay said, “The movement seems to be hijacked by CPI(M) as the junior doctors have no concrete issue any more.” The CBI is investigating the R G Kar incident and the case is sub-judice, he said.