On September 5, 2024, delivery partners of food aggregators like Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, and Zepto organized a big rally in Kolkata in demand for justice for the victim of the RG Kar Hospital rape and murder case. This rally signifies how deeply the incident has impacted Kolkata’s collective conscience, cutting across professional boundaries.
On Wednesday, Kolkata residents staged a protest by turning off their lights between 9:00 and 10:00 pm to express their deep disappointment over the lack of progress in the probe of the RG Kar Hospital rape-murder case. Significantly, this act of solidarity sent a strong message to the authorities, showing the growing frustration among citizens who feel that justice is being delayed.
The call for this lights-out night-time protest by doctors, named ‘Let there be light, let there be justice’, came hours before the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the case on Thursday. However, the hearing has now been postponed. A protesting junior doctor was quoted as saying, ‘Three weeks have passed, still no progress in the investigation. Let’s come out on the streets with light, join hands in our call for justice, and create a human chain’. Throughout the state, civil society groups organized demonstrations in many locations in and around Kolkata on Wednesday night, resulting in a statewide increase of nighttime protests reminiscent of the ‘Reclaim the Night’ movement that captivated the state on midnight of August 14.
Many lawyers formed human chains outside Calcutta High Court and Bankshall Court, advocating for justice for the victim. Following this, Bankshall Court lawyers participated in a rally for the doctor. The RG Kar rape and murder case has sent shockwaves through Kolkata. The tragic death of the trainee doctor, who was brutally raped and murdered inside a seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, has deeply shaken the city’s conscience.
Meanwhile, on Monday the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, over the financial irregularities in the running of the facility.
‘There were irregularities in the acquisition of medicines at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the tenure of Ghosh as its principal’, according to the media reports.
A CBI official had confirmed that there was numerous evidence against the accused. Initially, the central agency took Ghosh to Nizam Palace and arrested him under charges of corruption and cheating. Previously, CBI had raided his house in connection to financial irregularities at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
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