Kolkata medic murder: Rahul Gandhi says attempt to save accused raises questions on hospital, local administration

New Delhi, August 14

Amid the uproar over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration.

The entire country is shocked by the gruesome incident of rape and murder of the junior doctor in Kolkata, said the former Congress president, adding there is an atmosphere of insecurity among the doctors' community and women with the revelations about the manner of the cruel and inhuman act against her.

“The attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration,” Gandhi said in a post on X in Hindi.

“This incident has forced us to think that if doctors are not safe in a place like a medical college, then how can the parents send their daughters outside for studies? Why are even the strict laws made after the Nirbhaya case unsuccessful in preventing such crimes?” he said.

Every party, every section of the society will have to hold serious discussions and take concrete steps on the continuously increasing incidents against women from Hathras to Unnao, and from Kathua to Kolkata, he said.

“I stand with the victim's family in their unbearable pain. They should get justice at all costs and the culprits should be given such a punishment that it serves as an example in the society,” Gandhi said.

The body of the woman post-graduate trainee was found inside a seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on the morning of August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested on Saturday in connection with the crime.

Junior doctors across West Bengal continued to cease work on Wednesday, the sixth day on the trot, protesting against the alleged rape and murder of the woman doctor at the state-run medical college and hospital and demanding justice for her.

The ongoing protest affected the healthcare services and long queues of patients were seen at the outpatient departments (OPDs) of all government hospitals.

The agitating junior doctors have been pressing for a magisterial probe into the killing of the woman doctor and the removal of senior officials from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the probe into the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).