Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 30: The BJP West Bengal women’ s wing members fought pitched battles with police during protests on Friday over alleged inaction by the state’s women commission on the rape and murder of the 31-year old trainee postgraduate doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9 even as the chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a second letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting a stringent central law and quick disposal of cases related to crimes against women.
Dramatic scenes were witnessed at the Karunamoyee metro station as police entered into it to catch leaders from the BJP women’s wing running inside the metro station as cops in riot gear giving them hot chase.
The protesters had planned to march to the state women’s commission office in Salt Lake and “lock” it accusing it of partisanship since the discovery of the victim’s body on August 9. However, the police intervened, chasing the protesters into the metro station and catching them one by one. The procession obstructed by police also included senior BJP leaders including party MLA Agnimitra Paul, Debasree Choudhury, and former MP Locket Chatterjee.
The Opposition party has been accusing the commission of partisanship since the discovery of the victim’s body on August 9. The BJP also continued its sit-in protest at Esplanade for the second day to press its demand Ms Banerjee’s resignation. Earlier today, Bengal police also halted another rally, detaining about 20 activists who were taken away in prison vans as they marched towards the commission’s office at Salt Lake.
The demonstrations took place weeks after the body of the postgraduate trainee doctor was discovered in the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. The brutal crime had sparked widespread outrage, with the BJP demanding justice and criticizing the ruling Trinamool Congress and Ms Banerjee for alleged inaction.
In the aftermath of the incident, questions have been raised on how the accused Sanjoy Roy had unfettered access to every corner of the state-run hospital at all times of the day. Some reports have also said he would illegally arrange hospital beds and other facilities for patients in exchange for money. The BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul said, “The way she is saying things is a language of an anti-national. If someone else would have said such things then, a case under UAPA must have been registered.”
The CBI on Friday again summoned former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College Sandip Ghosh for the 14th consecutive day for questioning in connection with its probe. Dr Ghosh, officials said, has already been quizzed by the agency for more than 140 hours.
Besides the gruesome crime, Dr Ghosh is also under the agency’s lens in the financial misconduct case at the hospital in which the sleuths have already registered an FIR against him and other entities. Agency officials also searched and questioned the former principal at his residence last Sunday.
Ms Banerjee wrote another letter to the Prime Minister on Friday and demanded ‘stringent’ Central legislation and punishment on heinous crimes of rape and murder and disposal of cases in a specific time frame. Reacting to her second letter, the BJP state president and union minister Sukanta Majumdar said, “The main thing is the implementation of the law. Legislation is important but the implementation of the legislation is more important.”
“You may kindly recall my letter No.44-CM dated August 22, 2024 (copy enclosed) regarding the need for stringent Central legislation on incidents of rape and meting out exemplary punishment to perpetrators of such crimes. No reply was received from your, end on such a sensitive issue,” Ms Banerjee’s letter read.
The Bengal Chief Minister expressed disappointment at the lack of a direct response from the Prime Minister to her previous letter, dated August 22. Instead, she received a generic reply from the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, which she deemed inadequate given the gravity of the issue.
On August 9, the body of the trainee doctor was found inside the RG Kar hospital premises. In its aftermath, massive protests and strikes were organised by doctors across the country with the Supreme Court itself intervening on its own to hear the case. Among those being questioned are the prime accused Sanjay Roy and the former principal of the college Sandip Ghosh.
Chief Minister Banerjee pointed out in her letter that her government in West Bengal has already taken significant steps to address the issue. She mentioned the establishment of ten exclusive Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) courts, alongside 88 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) and 62 POCSO-designated courts, all funded by the state. Ms Banerjee urged Mr Modi to intervene and allow for the appointment of permanent judicial officers to these courts. In her August 22 letter to the Prime Minister, Ms Banerjee claimed that 90 rape cases occur daily throughout the country.
In response to the letter, Annapurna Devi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, wrote that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, implemented last month, “comprehensively addresses the issues of crimes against women by providing stringent punishments.” Ms Devi had also alleged that West Bengal had been allocated 123 fast-track courts to handle cases of rape and child abuse, but many of these courts have yet to become operational.
