Nightmarish scenes unfolded at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata early on Thursday as nurses and police officers found themselves under siege from a hundreds-strong mob that vandalised property and ran amok, sowing terror among staff.
The chaos was so intense that police officers, posted at the hospital after a trainee doctor’s gruesome rape and murder last week, sought refuge with the hospital’s nurses. A nurse, who was caught in the midst of the mayhem, said the police personnel were outnumbered by the rampaging mob.
“So the police sought safety from us. Two officers, who were on duty, said please hide us in your ward,” the nurse recounted.
The mob’s fury was directed at the seminar room where the trainee doctor was killed, according to the nurse. “They wanted to break into the seminar room. Their main target was that,” she said.
“They tried to enter the third floor but they couldn’t. They destroyed the second floor, they may have thought that this is the floor where the crime occurred,” she added.
Nurses described a scene of terror as the mob wreaked havoc, leaving them traumatised. “We went downstairs and we were so afraidâæ We saw our junior and senior nurses crying in fear due to the attack,” said a nurse.
“Maybe another case of abuse may have happened yesterday. We all left the premises crying. This was a horrific experience for us,” she said.
Another nurse expressed fear for her safety. “We feel we can be killed at any time,” she said.
Hospital staff protested the vandalism on Thursday morning, demanding increased security. “Such hooliganism inside a hospital is unacceptable,” one nurse said.
Police said they fired tear gas to disperse the mob, which damaged a police vehicle and several motorcycles. Some officers were injured.
The mob vandalised the emergency ward, nursing station, medicine store, and outpatient department, as well as destroying CCTV cameras and a stage where junior doctors have been protesting the doctor’s rape and murder.
A civic police volunteer has been arrested in connection with the doctor’s killing.
Additional police have been deployed at the hospital after last night’s mayhem, a senior police officer said.
