Kolkata, Dec 14: A day after two key suspects in the rape-murder of a doctor at RG Kar hospital were granted bail, the Left parties and Congress organised protest rallies across Kolkata on Saturday, accusing the CBI of “failing” to deliver justice.
They also alleged a “tacit understanding” between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the BJP-led Centre.
Congress took out a procession from Rabindra Sadan to the CBI office at Nizam Palace in southern Kolkata, where they criticised the agency for its alleged failure to frame charges against the accused.
The protesters were seen holding party flags and chanting slogans like “We demand justice” and “Bichar Chai Tilottoma”.
Police stopped the Congress activists from entering the Nizam Palace, which led to a scuffle between the protesters and police personnel.
A rally organised by the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front (WBJDF) also took place, with hundreds of participants marching from Karunamayee to another CBI office at CGO Complex in Salt Lake, protesting the “delay in framing charges” against the conspirators involved in the rape-murder of the woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
The parents of the deceased doctor also joined the rally, with the mother saying, “We will fight for justice, and it is our right.”
Eight representatives from WBJDF met a CBI representative at Nizam Palace and handed over a memorandum demanding the agency expedite the probe.
“We were told by the CBI representative that the trial is on and the agency is on the path of investigation, aiming to submit a foolproof chargesheet. They assured us that releasing two on bail does not mean they are not above trial. But we are not happy with the pace of the CBI probe,” one of the doctors in the delegation said.
In a separate rally, members of Abhaya Manch, a platform consisting of civil society members, rights groups, and left-wing organisations, marched from College Square to Rani Rasmoni Avenue.
The protesters held placards reading, “If the system has failed, we will make it function to deliver justice.” There was a brief scuffle with police when they blocked the road, but they later moved to one side of the road to hold a protest meeting.
Rallies were also organised by SUCI (Communist) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), in other parts of the city.
On Friday, the Sealdah court had granted bail to Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College, and Abhijit Mondal, the former officer-in-charge of Tala Police Station, in connection with the rape-murder case. They were granted bail after the CBI “failed” to file a charge-sheet within the mandatory 90-day period.
TMC leader Firhad Hakim responded to the protests by suggesting that if the demonstrators were truly committed to justice, they should call for handing over the investigation to the state police.
“The state police would have ensured the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators. Police had managed to arrest the key accused within 24 hours of the crime. If those demanding justice are serious and not politicising the issue to target the Mamata Banerjee government, they should support the state police,” Hakim said. (PTI)
