Kolkata doctor rape-murder | Attempts to save accused, says Rahul Gandhi in veiled dig at Mamata Banerjee

He wondered why strict laws after the Nirbhaya case were unsuccessful.

New Delhi: In a veiled criticism of Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government over the handling of rape and murder of a post graduate trainee doctor in Kolkata, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that the attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim “raises serious questions”.

He did not name the I.N.D.I.A. partner Trinamool Congress or the state government led by Mamata Banerjee but said the entire country is “shocked by the gruesome incident” of rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata. His comments also came on a day when a senior Trinamool MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy held a protest against the incident in Kolkata.

Rahul said the way the layers of the cruel and inhuman act against her are being revealed, there is an atmosphere of insecurity among the doctors’ community and women.

“The attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration,” Rahul said in a post on ‘X’. 

“This incident has forced us to think that if doctors are not safe in a place like medical college, then how can parents send their daughters outside for studies? Why are even the strict laws made after the Nirbhaya case unsuccessful in preventing such crimes?” he said.

Rahul said every party and every section of the society will have to hold serious discussions and take concrete steps on the “continuously increasing incidents against women from Hathras to Unnao, and from Kathua to Kolkata”.

Standing with the victim's family in “this unbearable pain”, he said they should get justice at all costs and the culprits should be given such a punishment that it is presented as an example in the society.