Kolkata: Junior doctors on Tuesday called off their sit-in on BB Ganguly Street after 24 hours — but not their cease-work — minutes after meeting senior Kolkata Police officers in Lalbazar, during which they peppered the officers with questions regarding the police investigation into the RG Kar rape-murder.
A delegation of 22 junior doctors met commissioner Vineet Goyal, additional CP Murlidhar Sharma and joint CP (headquarters) Meeraj Khalid, handing Goyal a charter of their demands, one of which included his resignation.
The meeting lasted a little more than one-and-a-half hours, during which doctors asked the cops several questions: the manner in which evidence had been gathered from the crime scene after the rape and murder incident on Aug 9, other details about the investigation until CBI took over the case, and the vandalism in the early hours of Aug 15.
On Monday, the doctors had marched to Lalbazar demanding Goyal’s resignation but were halted by a 9ft-tall barricade that had been installed at the crossing of BB Ganguly Street and Phears Lane. The doctors had rejected Kolkata Police’s suggestion of a few representatives crossing the barricade and submitting their memorandum. In the stalemate that ensued, the doctors decided on a sit-in.
Once the barricade was removed on Tuesday afternoon, the junior doctors marched ahead. While the roses they had brought to hand to the officers had withered, they carried in a replica of a spine, which they left as a gift for the police brass.
“We have withdrawn our agitation for the sit-in protest but our movement for justice continues,” said Aniket Mahata, a PGT at RG Kar. “We submitted our memorandum stating why the CP should resign. We firmly stand by it.”
Lalbazar sources said that at the meeting venue, the junior doctors read out a memorandum stating why the commissioner had failed in his role. Goyal explained to them that he was heading Kolkata Police not on his own terms, that he was satisfied with his work so far and had not deliberately made a “mistake”. He also told the doctors that he would move out if his seniors felt otherwise.
Sources said the police tried explaining each question regarding gathering of evidence, the alleged change of the cover that draped the body of the deceased, and about securing the murder site. Questions ranged on the identity of those in the seminar room, including the man in red tee shirt. The doctors also said they doubted whether the seminar hall was the place where the crime had taken place.
The police told the doctors that a huge crowd had gathered that day, and that it had been difficult for the police to verify each person’s identity. The priority for the police was to collect evidence, which was done, the officers assured the junior doctors, adding that the crime scene had been secured.
The cops also said that they had intended to guard RG Kar on Aug 14 but had been overwhelmed by the huge number of vandals who gate-crashed early the following day. They said reinforcements could not reach immediately, as roads were blocked by protesters.
“We pointed out the police lapses in handling this heinous crime and how the police stood mute spectators during the mob attack on RG Kar Medical College. The CP tried to counter our points and we are not convinced with his explanation,” said Arnab Mukhopadhyay, a PGT at IPGMER.
A police source said that they tried to “explain everything” in detail. “We spoke in a cordial atmosphere and tried answering all their queries since they spent nearly 24 hours on the road, seeking justice. However, we cannot force anyone to accept all we said,” the source added.
