Kolkata, Sep 20 (UNI) A massive torch relay in response to a call from the junior doctors seeking justice for a murdered lady medic stretched across 42 kms from Hiland Park in east Kolkata to Shyambazar near RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) in the northern part of the city on Friday evening.
The organisers claimed that the length of the rally was unprecedented in the history of protest movements after independence in West Bengal.
Earlier in the day, the medics under the banner of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front walked from the state health secretariat Swasthya Bhavan to the Salt Lake CGO Complex, which houses an office of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - the federal agency probing the alleged rape-murder of the post-graduate trainee doctor and corruption and irregularities at the RGKMCH - to press for a fast inquiry into the case.
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The medics also called off their protest sit-in outside the Swasthya Bhavan at noon on Friday after 11 days. On Saturday they would partially lift their casework by attending to their duties in the emergency departments of hospitals but continue to stay away from the Out Patients Department (OPD), in-patient duties and planned surgeries.
The medics said they decided to partially lift their casework given the flood-like situation in the southern Bengal districts.
The huge torch rally brought together people from all strata of the society with the route touching several premier government hospitals including SSKM, NRS, RGKMCH and Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
The protesters from various medical associations, Junior Doctors’ Forum, women from the ‘Reclaim the Night’ movement, Information Technology (IT) professional associations, supporters of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan clubs as well as alumni of various city schools and universities joined the rally in protest against the alleged rape-murder of the 31-year-old post-graduate trainee doctor at her workplace RGKMCH on August 9.
The incident has shocked people across the country triggering a series of protests which even stretched beyond India's borders to far-off lands.
Yesterday, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) met the state administration for the second time, reiterating their demands for a safe environment, an end what they called "threat culture" in hospitals and a fast and fair investigation into the murder case. UNI PC SSP