People form a human chain at Eastern Metropolitan Bypass to protest against the alleged sexual assault and murder of a trainee doctor, in Kolkata, Tuesday, September 3, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Kolkata: Demanding justice for the deceased woman medic of R G Kar Hospital, thousands of people, including doctors and paramedics of private facilities, formed a 13-km human chain along an arterial city road on Tuesday, an unprecedented event in the city's history in recent years.
Participants of the human chain standing on the median divider of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass between Ultadanga and Patuli - linking the northern and southern parts of the city.
Since the protestors did not obstruct crossings during their one-hour stay on the road from 5 pm, this mode of agitation did not affect vehicular traffic movement along the busy road as hundreds of vehicles plied uninterrupted, a police officer said.
The participants waved the tricolour and held placards which read 'For how long we have to wait for justice', 'Hang the rapists' and 'Justice for our sister'.
People from all walks of life, office goers and commuters, besides people from neighbourhood pockets along the route, took part in the protest.
Meanwhile, Left Front activists took part in a rally demanding the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the alleged mishandling of the rape and murder case of a doctor in state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Police had a trying time to pacify the demonstrators at Shyambazar near the state-run hospital, who broke through barricades erected by the force.
Police chased away the protestors comprising members of student and youth units of the Left Front constituents. They, however, regrouped a little distance away.
The rallyists, led by Left Front chairman Biman Bose, senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty and other senior leaders walked for a distance of three km from Rajabazar tram depot to Shyambazar.
“The audacious bid by the ruling party and administration to derail the probe into the R G Kar incident and protect the guilty has already been exposed. The failure of the chief minister to ensure a safe environment for the women is explicit. The people of the state demand she should step down and the guilty are punished,” Chakraborty told reporters.
CPIM’s youth front DYFI leader Minakshi Mukherjee said the commissioner of police had to leave the police headquarters Lalbazar through the backdoor to avoid meeting thousands of protestors on the street “as the administration is now scared of public uprising.”
The body of an on-duty post-graduate trainee, who was allegedly raped and murdered, was found in the seminar room of state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in the city. Junior doctors have been on cease-work since that day.