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Kolkata’s night of protest on 14 August against a trainee doctor’s rape and murder turned into a night of violence. A night of shame.
An organised mob, armed with sticks, iron rods, and iron hammers broke a police barricade at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital – the epicentre of the current doctors' agitation in West Bengal. They then went on a rampage for about 40 minutes, just past midnight.
It was an ugly orgy of violence and looked like a planned and well-orchestrated attack. The hooligans overpowered a police force of about 100, who had been posted at the hospital to maintain peace and order.
In the face of the attack, the policemen fled to the hospital toilets and other safe corners and hid themselves from the armed invaders while the emergency hospital staff and nurses present were exposed to life threats.
The hooligans arrived at the hospital just when a group of agitating doctors were preparing to join a citizens' march, the defining theme of which was, “Women, Reclaim the Night. The Night is Ours.”
The invaders at RG Kar Hospital, for two hours, broke hospital beds, emergency medicine units, oxygen supply lines in the emergency, and the high dependency units, and smashed the glass panes. The protest podium for doctors was demolished along with chairs, fans, and other furniture.
Utter chaos prevailed till combat forces arrived from the Lalbazar Police Headquarters, who lobbed tear gas shells. At least six policemen were hurt including the inspector-in-charge of Manicktala Police Station, who was seen bleeding profusely from his head having been hit by stones. “It is an organised violence but we will not succumb to them,” he said, his eyes drenched in blood.
The commissioner of the Kolkata Police arrived at about 2 am and gradually brought the situation under control but not before he lashed out at the media present there, complaining that it was a sustained “smear campaign by the media against the police and authorities that resulted in such violence.”
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An Ugly Counter-Narrative
The attack was an ugly counter-narrative to Thursday night’s protest march. Dr Aniket Mahata, one of the leaders of the agitating doctors at RG Kar Hospital, said the attack was aimed at breaking the doctors’ agitation by scaring them back into their homes. "Or else, why should an armed mob mount an attack on a hospital and destroy the agitating doctors’ protest, destroy emergency services? We are going to further intensify our agitation," he said.
Dr Kabiul Haque, another leader of the doctors’ union run by the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), a strong constituent of the present movement, said, “The government, the police, and hospital authorities would have to take responsibility for the criminal invasion of a peaceful agitation. There was a serious threat of tampering with the evidence of the rape and murder case as the invaders reached up to the third floor where the doctor was raped and strangulated to death. The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) is currently investigating the case. The attack hits at the very core of our demand for safety and security.”
Dr Haque added that his organisation has given a call for a 12-hour bandh in all of West Bengal to protest the last night’s attack. Emergency services were being maintained at the hospitals but now it looks like critical care will also cease to be available for suffering patients.
However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her first reaction to the media said that political adversaries were trying to create a “Bangladesh-like situation” in West Bengal, but she will take to the streets to counter the disruptive forces.
Earlier, on Wednesday evening, the chief minister had appealed to the doctors to come back to work and provide services to the people. “You are duty-bound to give services in such a critical care set-up,” she said. She also alleged that three patients, including a child, have died because of the agitation in the past six days. This will not be tolerated, she warned.
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'I Could Not Stay At Home'
The appeal of the protests had spread like wildfire on social media, centred on the rape and murder of the 31-year-old doctor.
Initially planned at only three locations in Kolkata, the campaign became decentralised, and people at hundreds of locations pledged their support.
It could be gathered that the image and the text were created by a researcher at Presidency University, Rimjhim Sinha, who also works with marginalised women.
A poster for the protest that was planned in New Delhi.
(Photo: The Quint)
The protesters unanimously chanted and demanded, “We want justice. We want safety.” Across Bengal, thousands of women and men, young and old, infirm and able-bodied, responded to the call. Protests were also held in New Delhi and Mumbai.
At Salt Lake Karunamoyee, one of the 300 locations for the night march, Archana Nath, a 78-year-old woman, was seen clutching her walking stick firmly and moving towards the assembly podium. Asked why she had come, Nath answered, “A young doctor was raped and murdered in the most brutal, heinous way in her workplace. I could not stay at home. I am so distressed and outraged. The criminal should be hanged.”
Archana Nath walking to the protest site.
(Photo: Author)
At Park Circus Maidan, another big rally of citizens, including many Muslim women, began their march a little before 9 pm.
Uzma Alam, founder and secretary of an organisation called Purple Foundation that works with women and children concerning violence, deprivation, and education, said that the young doctor’s rape and murder had caused a shock that cut across community lines.
Alam, who is also the Convenor of the Kolkata All India Muslim Law Board, told The Quint, “Women are not safe at home or at the workplace. The doctor’s rape and murder have angered us beyond comprehension, and we are here to seek justice.”
An image from the protest.
(Photo: Author)
The spectacular show of solidarity was something Kolkata had not witnessed in years and decades. For the Trinamool Congress government led by Banerjee, who claims to be a champion of women’s rights, it could be a turning point in her political career.
The heinous incident occurs almost 12 years after the gangrape and murder of a 22-year woman physiotherapy intern in the national capital, the infamous Nirbhaya case.
On 13 August, the Calcutta High Court ordered the police to hand over the case to the CBI as Kolkata Police had not made much substantive progress. So far, Kolkata Police has arrested a civic volunteer who helped the police in its work and the prime accused is now in CBI custody.
The battle lines have been drawn. With the government and the agitators tightening their stance, Kolkata and West Bengal seem to be heading for more turmoil and agony in the days to come.
(The writer is a Kolkata-based senior journalist. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
