Nine people have been arrested after a mob vandalised the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in the early hours of Thursday during a protest against the horrific rape and murder of a trainee doctor on the premises of the institution last week.
Women in Kolkata and many other parts of the country had organised a vigil, calling it ‘women, reclaim the night’ on Wednesday night. During the vigil, which began around 11 pm on Wednesday, some people entered the premises of the hospital and went on a rampage. Vehicles were attacked, public property was damaged and the police had to resort to a lathicharge as well as firing teargas shells to control the situation. The Kolkata Police said 15 policemen were injured.
On Thursday morning, police released some photos of people believed to be part of the mob that vandalised the hospital and sought information about them. The photos were shared on social media and the faces of the suspected rioters were circled. The arrests were announced hours later.Â
While the identities of the nine arrested people have not been revealed, a doctor, Anubhav Mondal, who is participating in the protests outside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, said he was among those circled in the photographs circulated by the Kolkata Police.
“Our protests will continue and get bigger. Whoever thinks they can instil fear in us will not succeed, we want justice at any cost. Our most important demand is a neutral investigation through a court-monitored process, and justice,” Mr Mondal told NDTV.
After claims were made on social media that the seminar hall where the 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered was also vandalised by the mob, the Kolkata Police said nothing of the sort had happened and warned people against spreading rumours.Â
“Crime scene is Seminar Room and it has not been touched. Don’t spread unverified news. We will initiate legal action for spreading rumours,” the police said in a post on X.
Governor Visit
Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose also visited the hospital on Thursday and assured doctors and medical students that he was standing with them after they told him that they were feeling insecure after the killing and violence, and were feeling “traumatised and terrorised”.Â
“I am with you. We will fight it out and not allow these ghastly things. We will take positive action which will be exemplary for others,” the governor told the doctors.Â
Probe
A CBI team, which took over the investigation of the rape and murder on Tuesday, has met the family of the trainee doctor who was killed.
The trainee doctor’s body was found last Friday and an autopsy report, which had put the time of death between 3 and 5 am, revealed that several injuries were inflicted on her before she was smothered to death. The police had arrested a civic volunteer, Sanjoy Roy, who is now in the CBI’s custody.Â
The parents of the trainee doctor have told the Calcutta High Court that 150 mg of semen was found in her body, indicating that she was gang-raped. “No step taken to arrest any other offenders while the evidence clearly indicates that their daughter was the victim of a gang rape and murder, a crime that could not have been committed by one person alone,” the parents’ petition said.
