Kolkata rape-murder case: Junior doctors willing to attend meeting at CM's residence, want minutes to be handed over to them

Kolkata: The agitating doctors confirmed on Monday evening that they are willing to attend a meeting at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence to resolve the RG Kar hospital impasse but demanded they should be allowed to record and sign the minutes of the talks.

The state government, readily accepted the condition, with the Chief Secretary Manoj Pant saying both the parties will sign the minutes of the meeting and copies will be shared with each for clarity.

Earlier in the evening, responding to the mail by Pant this morning inviting them for talks, the agitating doctors said they are willing to attend the meeting and place their demands before the chief minister.

"As law-abiding citizens of the country, we are more than willing to attend the meeting. But it would have been really appreciated if the place of the meeting would have been an official and an administrative place as the matter is related to governance," the doctors said in a reply mail.

The doctors mentioned that the arrest of the Tala police station OC by the CBI in the RG Kar case increases the significance of the transparency of the meeting even more than before.

"We would like to emphasise that the meeting be videographed by separate videographers of both the parties. If not possible from your side, entire video file of the meeting be handed over to the doctor representatives. If that is not possible, then the minutes of the full transcript of the meeting be recorded and formulated by both the parties and duly signed by all the attendees and handed over at the end of the meeting," the agitating doctors said.

Soon after, the Chief Secretary responded by saying that "both the parties will sign the minutes of the meeting and copies will be shared with each party to ensure clarity".

The West Bengal government on Monday "for the fifth and the final time" invited the protesting junior doctors for talks to end the RG Kar impasse, two days after the dialogue failed to take off over disagreement on live-streaming of the meeting.

In an email to the protesting junior doctors, Pant asked them to reach Banerjee's residence at Kalighat at 5 pm on Monday for the talks.