KOLKATA: Thousands of Indians marched through the streets of Kolkata on Friday demanding justice after the rape and murder of a doctor, channelling nationwide outrage at the chronic issue of violence against women.

Alongside the fury of ordinary Indians, doctors stepped up their own demonstrations and strikes on Friday, with protests also held in the capital New Delhi and other cities over the brutal killing.

The discovery of the 31-year-old’s bloodied body on August 9 at a state-run hospital in Kolkata sparked nationwide protests.

“We want justice,” doctors chanted during the protests in Kolkata, waving handwritten signs that read: “No safety, no service!” Protester Sumita Datta, 59, said she was disgusted that such a brazen and violent attack could have been carried out “in a well-known hospital in the heart of the city”.

Autopsy confirms 31-year-old doctor was sexually assaulted, family suspects more than one culprit involved

“So many people are out here to take part in the protests,” Datta added.

“It feels like hope is being reignited.” Those in government hospitals across several states on Monday halted elective services “indefinitely” in protest.

Multiple medical unions in both government and private systems have backed the strikes.

“We are intensifying our protests... to demand justice for our colleague,” Suvrankar Datta said Friday at the government-run All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in New Delhi.

The Indian Medical Association has called for a “nationwide withdrawal of services” for 24 hours starting Saturday, with suspension of all non-essential procedures at private hospitals.

Doctors are demanding the implementation of the Central Protection Act, a bill to protect healthcare workers from violence.

Members of the wider public have also marched in several cities this week, including at a candlelight midnight rally in Kolkata that coincided with the start of India’s independence day celebrations on Thursday.

Indian media has reported that the murdered doctor was found in the teaching hospital’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a rest during a long shift.

An autopsy confirmed sexual assault, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV, and in a petition to the court the victim’s parents said they suspected their daughter was gang-raped.

Atrocities

Though police have detained a man who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, state government officers have been accused of mishandling the case.

The man, his head covered in a white sack, was taken on Friday for a health checkup, escorted by dozens of armed police.

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India — an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4 billion people.

For many, the gruesome nature of the hospital attack has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus.

That woman became a symbol of the socially conservative country’s failure to tackle sexual violence against women.

Her death sparked huge, and at times violent, demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere.

Under pressure, the government introduced harsher penalties for rapists and the death penalty for repeat offenders.

Several new offences were also introduced — including for stalking — and officials who refuse to register rape complaints can now be jailed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday demanded swift punishment for those who commit “monstrous” deeds against women.

“There is anger for atrocities committed against our mothers and sisters,” Modi said.

“Monstrous behaviour against women should be severely and quickly punished,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2024