Thousands in India are marching the streets, protesting for workplace safety for women after an Indian medic was raped and murdered in a Kolkota hospital.
While the Indian Medical Association’s 24-hour strike ended early Sunday morning, some Indian junior doctors have remained on strike.
The Association told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a letter that, considering 60 per cent of India’s doctors are women, he needed to intervene to ensure hospital staff were protected by security protocols similar to those at airports.
In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, more than 6,000 trainee doctors in government hospitals continued to stay away from non-emergency medical services on Sunday for a third day. Private institutes resumed regular operations.
The demand for action was sparked after a 31-year-old trainee doctor’s dead body, bearing multiple injuries, was found on August 9 in a government teaching hospital in Kolkata.
An autopsy confirmed that the female victim was raped and killed. A volunteer who worked at the hospital has been arrested in connection with the crime.
The parents of the victim were initially told “by hospital authorities that their daughter had committed suicide,” lawyer and women’s rights activist Vrinda Grover told Al Jazeera.
Following criticism at the case’s handling and progres, the investigation has been transferred from local police to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The woman’s rape and killing has ignited, largely peaceful protests, except for an incident at RG Kar Hospital– the site of the crime– where a clash erupted between the police and a small group of unidentified men who ransacked the emergency ward.
The All India Residents and Junior Doctors’ Joint Action Forum said on Saturday it would continue a “nationwide cease-work” with a 72-hour deadline for authorities to conduct a thorough inquiry and make arrests.
Protests and candlelight marches have also been held in many other Indian cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.
In solidarity with the doctors, thousands of people marched in the streets of Kolkata on Sunday evening chanting “we want justice”.
This is not the first incident of rape that has made headlines in India, as female activists say this latest case has highlighted the continued suffering of women in India.
Following a particular incident in 2012– a gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in Delhi– India’s government introduced sweeping changes to the criminal justice system, including tougher sentences.
Campaigners, however, say little has changed and not enough has been done to deter violence against women.
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