India’s doctors refuse to end strike over brutal rape and murder of trainee at Kolkata hospital
New Delhi — Public hospitals across India were turning away all but emergency patients Monday as hundreds of thousands of doctors continued refusing to work as part of a national strike that began Saturday over the brutal rape and murder of a young female doctor.
Medics have demanded safer workplaces and swift legal action following the rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on Aug. 9, which sparked a new wave of national rage over violence against women.
“Our indefinite cease-work and sit-in will continue till our demands are met,” vowed Dr. Aniket Mahata, a spokesperson for striking junior doctors at the R.G. Kar facility.
2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus. That vicious attack prompted India to enact tougher laws against sexual violence, but according to the latest available government data, as recently as 2022 authorities were still registering about 90 rapes on average per day.
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The autopsy report on the trainee doctor in Kolkata showed a level of brutality similar to the 2012 Delhi gang rape. Indian news outlets claiming to have seen the report said it detailed multiple injuries inflicted on the woman before she died, with strangulation listed as the cause of the death. The nature and extent of the injuries reported suggests the woman resisted and may have been tortured before she was killed.
The Kolkata Police arrested a volunteer member of the force on Aug. 10 and have charged him with rape and murder, but the victim’s parents have raised questions about the possibility of more people being involved. The case was transferred to India’s top criminal investigative authority, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), last week.
Source: cbsnews.com