Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 23: The healthcare services remained severely hit at state-run hospitals in West Bengal on Friday as the junior doctors continued their strike for the 15th consecutive day to protest against the rape and murder of a trainee postgraduate doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata ignoring the appeal by the Supreme Court to doctor’s to resume work.
The doctors’ strike in most other states and hospital were called off on Friday and the doctors resumed normal duty as major doctors’ associations called off their 11-day strike following the Supreme Court appeal to resume work. However, in West Bengal, the epicentre of the protests, healthcare services at state-run hospitals remain disrupted as junior doctors continue their cease-work.
The Health Secretary on Friday said that the absence of doctors has negatively impacted healthcare, especially for poor patients. The Supreme Court has requested doctors to return to work. He again urges the doctors to resume the work. The West Bengal Health Secretary N.S. Nigam also on Friday appealed to resident doctors protesting over the incident to resume services. Mr Nigam said health services were seriously affected because of ceased work of resident doctors.
The Supreme Court had on Thursday asked the West Bengal government not to penalise those peacefully demanding justice for the junior doctor and urged the striking doctors to return to work, assuring them of protection from reprisals.
In a major relief to patients, healthcare services treaded to normal capacity in several states and Union Territories on Thursday and Friday. Doctors’ bodies and hospitals in Delhi, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, among others called off their strike.
The incident has invoked fear among students and doctors with post-graduate trainees questioning the safety and security on the hospital premises and alleging the lack of a separate room for women doctors who work at night. Junior doctors, members of the hospital’s Resident Doctors Association and supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the BJP have protested against the death of the student.
The protesting doctors and students welcomed the court’s order on deploying the central armed forces at the medical college but a section of students said they hoped the Supreme Court would arrange better security as the mob violence has left doctors and students traumatised who have fled considering personal safety.
The 33-year old civic police volunteer Sanjoy Roy, the lone accused to be arrested in this case the very next day of the incident on June 9 by the Kolkata police, is claimed to have admitted to the sexual assault and murder of the postgraduate trainee doctor.
What followed was a social media hailstorm in which facts, hearsay and half-truths formed a heady cocktail and people pieced together the image of a rapist-murderer. Some reports said Roy married four times, others mentioned he was addicted to porn and often visited prostitutes.
What most reports agreed on was that despite being a civic volunteer, Roy wielded clout no less than a cop. He roamed around on a bike that had a sticker of KP — Kolkata Police. He also wore a ‘KP’ t-shirt and frequently stayed at the police barracks. Multiple reports said Roy was a regular at the hospital and took bribes from patients’ relatives for arranging beds, getting pathological tests done and several other services.
Roy still remains the only person arrested so far in connection with the heinous crime. The doctor’s parents and colleagues suspect that he could just be a scapegoat to aid an alleged cover-up. Sanjoy Roy’s mother Malati Roy disagree that her son could do such a heinous crime and claimed that he was being framed. “Many people are involved. Those who framed him will get punished too,” she said. Roy, she said, ran the household. “He treated me well. He ran the household after his father died.”
Sanjoy Roy has four sisters. The eldest stays not very far from her mother and brother, but has not visited them in over 17 years. “I have not entered that house since I married 17 years back. My father was opposed to my marriage and I have had no relation with the family since then. So I don’t really know how my brother grew up to be,” she said.
Sanjoy Roy, she said, married twice. “I know about two marriages. I have seen two wives.” She said that as a sister, she doesn’t think Roy could commit such a crime. “But I am watching news too. Even I don’t know. I am in shock. I can’t understand. But if he has done this, he should be punished as per law.”
Roy married Shanti in February 2022. In August 2023, when Shanti was three months pregnant, she died of cancer. Shanti’s mother Durga Devi said Roy would get drunk and beat up her daughter. “He had been married once earlier, but his wife left him,” she said, adding that Roy was divorced. “My daughter used to tell me that he is not a bad person.” She said Roy would visit them at times, but has not come since her daughter died. Asked if he should be punished if found guilty, Durga Devi replied, “We have nothing to do with him.”
His neighbours in Bhabanipur held bad opinion about Sanjoy. Several women said Roy was a “nasty guy.” “He ogled at women, we would shut our doors whenever we saw him,” a woman said. According to sources, CBI’s probe has found that Roy visited a red light area before allegedly committing the crime. Reports say he was addicted to porn. Only investigation will now reveal what is fact and what is fiction.
Indian students, charities and diaspora organisations in Britain organised a series of events to continue to highlight their demand for justice following the rape-murder the doctor at the RG Kar Medical College.
While women’s organisations came together to organise peace vigils at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament Square in London and across several other UK cities on Thursday, the Students’ Federation of India – United Kingdom (SFI-UK) organised a march in the city of Liverpool on Wednesday.
The hundreds who gathered at London’s Parliament Square lit candles to spell out “Justice” and held placards with messages calling for respect and empowerment of women. “We have received overwhelming support from the entire world, proving that the time has come to wake up, take notice, rise up above our individual interests and join hands in our endeavour of showing support and solidarity to the cause,” said Dr Dipti Jain of the Medicos Women Charity.