Indian doctors resume strike over colleague’s rape and murder

Published October 1, 2024
People chant slogans as they participate in a protest condemning and marking one month since the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a government-run hospital in Kolkata, India on September 8. — Reuters
People chant slogans as they participate in a protest condemning and marking one month since the rape and murder of a trainee medic at a government-run hospital in Kolkata, India on September 8. — Reuters

Indian doctors in Kolkata said on Tuesday they had resumed a strike to protest against the brutal rape and murder of a colleague because their demands for hospital safety improvements had not been met.

The discovery of the 31-year-old’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in the eastern city in August rekindled nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.

Doctors briefly returned to limited work in emergency departments last month but decided at a union meeting to cease work again.

Union spokesman Aniket Mahato said the West Bengal state government had failed to deliver on its promises to upgrade lighting, CCTV cameras, and other security measures in hospitals.

“The state government has failed to provide safety and security in the workplace,” he told AFP.

Mahato said doctors would return to the streets on Tuesday night to insist the government meet its pledges and to demand justice for their murdered colleague.

Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians joined in the protests following the August attack, which focused anger on the lack of measures for female doctors to work without fear.

One man has been detained over the murder but the West Bengal government has faced public criticism for its handling of the investigation.

Authorities sacked the city’s police chief and top health ministry officials.

India’s Supreme Court ordered a national task force last month to examine how to bolster security for healthcare workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation”.

The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.

Opinion

Editorial

Trump 2.0
Updated 07 Nov, 2024

Trump 2.0

It remains to be seen how his promises to bring ‘peace’ to Middle East reconcile with his blatantly pro-Israel bias.
Fait accompli
07 Nov, 2024

Fait accompli

A SLEW of secretively conceived and hastily enacted legislation has achieved its intended result: the powers of the...
IPP contracts
07 Nov, 2024

IPP contracts

THE government expects the ongoing ‘negotiations’ with power producers aimed at revising the terms of sovereign...
Rushed legislation
Updated 06 Nov, 2024

Rushed legislation

For all its stress on "supremacy of parliament", the ruling coalition has wasted no opportunity to reiterate where its allegiances truly lie.
Jail reform policy
06 Nov, 2024

Jail reform policy

THE state is making a fresh attempt to improve conditions in Pakistan’s penitentiaries by developing a national...
BISP overhaul
06 Nov, 2024

BISP overhaul

IT has emerged that the spouses of over 28,500 Sindh government employees have been illicitly benefiting from BISP....