Justice sought after rape, murder of trainee doctor in India

Doctors across India demonstrated on Monday to demand justice and a safer workplace following the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.

Police had found the victim’s body in a seminar hall of the R.G. Kar Medical College on Friday (August 9) morning after she was sexually assaulted and murdered the night before, local media reported.

Doctors, nurses and medics took part in widespread protests in Kolkata, Lucknow, Chandigarh and New Delhi. They were seen passionately marching, chanting and participating in seated demonstrations outside university hospitals, holding signs expressing their anger and frustrations.

“We want justice for humanity. This has happened to a woman who was a doctor. There should not be any involvement of politics in the investigation process,” said one protester, Koustav Nanda, gathered with other doctors outside King George’s Medical University in Lucknow.

Like Nanda, many of the protesters demanded the intervention of the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case.

West Bengal State Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday the principal of the R.G. Kar Medical College has resigned. She also gave police a deadline of August 18 to arrest the suspect, and if not, will hand over the case to the CBI.