The protesting junior doctors in Kolkata have agreed to meet the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today, September 16, at 5 pm, to hold discussion on the horrific rape and murder case at RG Kar medical college and hospital in Kolkata.
A delegation of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF) will be meeting the CM at her Kalighat residence, as informed by one of the protesting doctors.
In an email sent to the West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant today, the WBJDF wrote, “As law abiding citizens we are more than willing to join you for today's meeting, but it would have been really appreciated if the place of the meeting could have been an official and administrative place as this matter is related to governance.”
This comes after much back and forth between the state government and the protesting doctors over the last week.
To recall, the state government has sent multiple invitations to the agitating doctors to hold a meeting at the secretariat in the presence of the Chief Minister in order to have an “open dialogue”.
The doctors, who have been demanding justice for the rape and murder victim for over a month now, however, demanded that their meeting with the Chief Minister be live-telecasted or video graphed in order to maintain transparency.
Today, in a letter addressed to the protesting doctors, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant invited them again to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her residence at 5 pm, adding that this is their “Fifth and final call” to discuss resolve the issue.
The letter maintained that live streaming and videography would not be permitted as the matter is still sub-judice in the Supreme Court of India.
Conditions and demands
In their email written to the Chief Secretary, the Junior Doctors reiterated their emphasis on live-telecasting today's meeting. The doctors said that in the light of recent developments in the RG Kar Rapa case; that is, arrest of former RG Kar principal Dr Sandip Ghosh and Tala Police Station Office-in-charge, the need for transparency has increased further.
The doctors added that if a live-telecast is not possible, both the parties should be allowed to videograph the meeting.
If not that, “minutes with full transcript of the meeting should be recorded and formulated by both the parties (WBJDF will bring their own minutes and transcript takers for the meeting) and duly signed by all attendees and handed over at the end of the meeting,” said the email.
