Kolkata rape-murder: Mamata says ready to resign for sake of justice but pleads doctors to return to duty

Kolkata: After the junior doctors protesting the rape and murder of a colleague called off a proposed meeting with her at the last moment, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she was ready to resign for the interests of the people, but she wanted the victim to get justice and commoners to get medical care.

A delegation of the junior doctors, who have been on a cease work stir for the past several weeks, went to the state secretariat to meet the chief minister and the senior officials of the state government for discussion on their demands. They, however, waited outside insisting on live streaming of the meeting on the TV channels. The state government argued that live streaming of the meeting could lead to legal complications as the matter was sub-judice.

The junior doctors, however, steadfastly insisted on live telecast of the meeting and did not get into the conference hall of the state secretariat. After waiting for almost two hours, chief minister, who had earlier accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the leftist parties of politicising the rape and murder of the young doctor, told journalists that the protesting doctors had been receiving instructions over phone to call off the meeting.

“They don’t want justice, they want chair. I am even ready to resign for the interests of the people. I don’t need the chief minister’s post. But I want people to get justice. I want justice for Tilottama (a pseudonym of the slain doctor). I want common people to get medical care,” said Banerjee, folding her hands to urge the protesting doctors to return to work.

She reminded that the Supreme Court had asked the junior doctors to return to work by 5 p.m. on Tuesday and the deadline had already passed. She said that although the state government could use the Essential Services Maintenance Act to force the doctors to return to work, she would not resort to such draconian measures as she, herself, had also led several agitations during the Left Front’s rule in West Bengal.

The junior doctors, however, said that they were not being influenced by anyone else. They said that they had come for talks with positive and open minds and wanted live streaming of the meeting for the sake of transparency. The protesting medics also said that they had never demanded Banerjee’s resignation from the office of the chief minister and only wanted the ones creating hurdle in the path of justice to go and be punished.

Banerjee said that at least 27 patients had died because they did not get timely and adequate medical care at the hospitals run by the state government due to the cease work stir by the junior doctors.

The state government recently stated that seven lakh outdoor patients and seventy thousand indoor patients had been denied medical care due to the cease work stir by the junior doctors. He also said that over 7,000 surgeries had been deferred in the state government’s hospitals and 1,500 patients in catheterization laboratories had been left untreated.

“I apologise to the people who expected that this would be resolved today,” she said, adding: “I waited for three days for them to come, but they did not come. I am still saying that I will not take any action against them for not coming and making us wait for two hours. I will forgive them because as elders, it is our responsibility to forgive our younger ones,” she said.

“They have not rejoined work. But we have not taken any action as you need to deal with such situations with patience at times,” said the chief minister, who also noted that the probe into the rape and murder was now being conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the state government could do nothing to speed it up.

Notwithstanding the order of the Supreme Court to return to work, the junior doctors on Tuesday took out a protest march and started a sit-in demonstration in front of the headquarters of the Department of Health of the state government, demanding resignation of the state’s health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam and police commissioner Vineet Goyal, apart from expeditious justice for the slain medic with exemplary punishment for all the culprits.

They demanded that the people involved with the destruction of evidence must also be brought to justice. They also demanded measures to ensure safety and security for them in the hospitals.

The junior doctors initially rejected the state government’s offer for talks, but later agreed. They, however, insisted on the presence of the chief minister and live streaming. Though the state government had asked them to send a team of 12 to 15 members, they insisted on a larger delegation comprising 32 medics. The state government accepted many of their pre-conditions for talks, except the one for live streaming.

After a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee physician was found raped and murdered at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata early on August 9, more than seven thousand junior doctors at over 20 medical colleges and hospitals across West Bengal started a cease work stir alleging a cover-up attempt by the Kolkata Police and the RGKMCH authorities.

The agitation continued even after the Kolkata Police arrested one of its own contractual employees on August 10 and the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the probe on August 14.

Not only the doctors, but the civil society activists, film and theatre personalities, singers, painters, techies, students and youths, as well as people from all sections of the society took to the streets demanding justice for the slain medic, putting the ruling Trinamool Congress in a tight spot.

The BJP, CPI(M) and the Congress also launched a series of agitations across the state over the past few weeks and the incident brought to the fore the allegation about rampant corruption in the hospitals and medical colleges in the state.