Mamata endorses demand for death penalty for accused in Kolkata doctor rape and murder case

The body of the woman doctor was found inside the seminar hall of a government-run hospital in north Kolkata on Friday. A preliminary autopsy report has indicated sexual abuse before she was killed.

Kolkata: As the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in a hospital run by the West Bengal government triggered protests by the medics in healthcare facilities in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that her government would seek capital punishment for the accused arrested by the police.

A ‘civic volunteer’ – one of the contractual employees appointed to help the police – was arrested for allegedly murdering the postgraduate trainee doctor after sexually assaulted her at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Her body, with multiple injuries, was found at the Seminar Hall of the hospital early on Friday.

Banerjee termed the agitation by the junior doctors in several hospitals in and around Kolkata demanding justice for the slain doctor as “reasonable”. The chief minister also said that she had agreed with the demand of the protesting medics for exemplary punishment of the culprit.

She also asked the officials to speed up the trial by moving it to a fast-track court.

She spoke to the parents of the victim over the phone. She said that the state government was ready to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation if the investigation by the Kolkata Police could not be relied upon.

The police investigators zeroed in on the ‘civic volunteer’ after analysing the CCTV footage and finding a part of his headphone on the scene of the rape and murder.

The arrested civic volunteer was not posted in the hospital, but he was known to be a frequent visitor to the healthcare facility. He was presented before the judge of a court, which remanded him to police custody till August 23.

“This is a heinous crime, and the arrested person is allegedly involved based on circumstantial evidence, including accounts of the other doctors present during night-duty hours,” Vinit Goyal, the Commissioner of Kolkata Police, told journalists in Kolkata.

The victim was taking a break and resting at the Seminar Hall of the hospital when the civic volunteer allegedly attacked her. The civic volunteer was charged under Sections 64 (rape) and 103 (murder) of Bharat Nyaya Sanhita. If the court convicts the accused, the Kolkata Police would seek maximum punishment for him, said Goyal.

The leaders and workers of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged protest demonstrations at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, demanding proper investigation and exemplary punishment for the culprit.

The incident triggered protests in several hospitals in West Bengal, with junior doctors demanding justice for the victim.

The ruling Trinamool Congress, however, managed to blunt the criticism, with prompt action by the Kolkata Police and the statement by the chief minister, herself, endorsing the demands for quick justice by the protesting medics.