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At midnight on August 15, India's 78th Independence Day, doctors and medical students protesting against the brutal rape and murder of a young doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata were violently attacked by an unidentified mob.
Several doctors, medical students, and the general public have been gathering at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College for the last six days, vehemently agitating against the sexual assault and murder of the postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor at the hospital.
On the night of August 14, a large group of women had also gathered near the campus for the Reclaim the Night campaign. Thousands of participants, largely women, had planned to march through the streets of Kolkata as part of a major protest against the crime.
However, the fight for justice took a violent turn shortly after midnight, when 40-50 individuals entered the protest site and vandalised parts of the hospital where the crime had occurred on August 9.
Here is what happened
August 14, 11.30 pm - 12.20 am:
A former medical intern from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, who was present at the protest site yesterday, told EdexLive, on the condition of anonymity, “The Reclaim the Night rally started around 11.30 pm. People had gathered all around our campus and there was a continuous flow of protestors. Around 12.20, my friends called me and said that they had received news that there might be a mob attack.”
While it is yet to be established what motivated the mob attack on doctors, a few reports state that the reason mentioned by the mob was the cease-work call of the protestors which was impacting the healthcare services. The Kolkata police have, so far, arrested nine people.
August 15, 12.35 am:
“Around 12.35 am or 12.40 am, the mob started to enter the protest site. We locked all the women inside the ladies' hostel on campus. The mob tore down barricades and started smashing plastic chairs, podiums, and other items at the site. They entered the emergency building where the entire ground floor was destroyed. They purposely destroyed the CCTV. The server room was also attacked. The newborn care unit was set on fire,” the protesting doctor said.
Eyewitnesses informed that the emergency ward of the hospital was ransacked, medical equipment destroyed and doors were broken down. As informed by protestors, none of the protesting doctors sustained serious injuries.
The protesters accused the police personnel present at the protest site on Wednesday night of failing to take action against the violent miscreants. In fact, a nurse told a local news channel that the police were allegedly hiding in the toilet.
“What we witnessed from the Kolkata police last night was a feeble attempt to contain the situation, they were merely trying to shoo away the mob like these violent men were actually rats or rabbits in a cage. This incident has clearly demoralised the protesters,” said a protestor.
August 15, 2.00 am
By 2.00 am, security officials had managed to disperse most of the miscreants from the protest site. Following this, the resident doctors at RG Kar Medical College called for an immediate General Body meeting.
“The strike will continue. We have asked for an intervention — president rule, or posting of army troops around the campus to ensure the safety of the doctors,” said an agitating doctor.
“Attempt to tamper with evidence”
One of the major concerns that emerged after the mob attack, aside from the lack of security for the protesting doctors, was the potential tampering with evidence related to the crime.
Medical associations and doctors suspected that the vandalism was a motivated attempt to compromise the crime scene.
A protester, who wishes to remain anonymous, said, “I think they were confused regarding the crime scene which was the Chest unit. Instead, they attacked the High Dependency Unit (HDU). Somehow, the crime scene was spared. But it was definitely an attempt to tamper with the crime scene, to cover up something.”
At the same time, the Kolkata police issued an assurance on social media platform X, that the crime scene was not affected during yesterday’s mob violence.
"Crime scene is in the Seminar Room and it has not been touched. Don't spread unverified news. We will initiate legal action for spreading rumours," the official account of Kolkata Police posted.
It might be recalled that just a few days earlier, parts of the Chest Medicine department where the crime took place, were 'renovated' mere hours before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was scheduled to begin its probe into the murder case.
Dr Anshuman Mitra, Secretary, Medical Service Network (MSN), West Bengal, expressed, “It is obvious that someone from the administration is involved in this crime. Right from the beginning, both the college administration and police tried to paint the death as a suicide. Then, when the principal resigned after pressure from protestors, he was immediately reinstated in another medical college.”
Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former head of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, has been facing backlash for ‘victim-blaming’ the deceased, and even suspected involvement in covering up the matter.
“When the matter reached the high court, the principal Dr Sandip Ghosh was told to go on a leave. The demand is not that. We demand for him to be subjected to CBI enquiry because it is evident he is involved. Continuously, they have been trying to tamper with the evidence. They obviously have something to hide, they cannot be immune to the law,” said Dr Mitra.
