On Wednesday, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh questioned the doctors protesting the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Ghosh provocatively compared the situation to a hypothetical protest by soldiers if they left their posts to demand justice for the 2019 Pulwama attack, where 40 CRPF soldiers were killed.
Ghosh urged the protesting doctors to end their strike, asserting that the Pulwama attack victims had not received justice and challenging whether such a protest by soldiers would be viewed favorably. “I have a question,” he wrote on X in Bengali. “There has been no justice in the Pulwama case. If jawans left the borders and started a ‘we want justice’ protest, how would they see it?”
The Trinamool Congress government, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is under severe criticism from the opposition, particularly the BJP, which is calling for Banerjee’s resignation over the brutal crime. The incident has led to widespread protests by doctors nationwide, who are demanding action and justice.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court intervened by assuring the protesting doctors that their demands would be addressed. The Court urged them to end their strike and return to work, while also directing the West Bengal government not to use force to suppress the protests. Additionally, the Court criticized the Bengal police for delaying the filing of the murder FIR by three hours after the body was handed over to the victim’s family.
The victim, who had been resting in the seminar hall after a 36-hour shift, was found dead the next morning. The police have arrested a civic volunteer in connection with the rape and murder. The CBI is also interrogating Dr. Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College, to determine if the murder was part of a conspiracy. The agency is considering polygraph tests for both the main accused and the ex-principal as part of its investigation.