KOLKATA: Thousands of Indian junior doctors on Monday refused to end their protests over the rape and murder of a fellow medic, disrupting hospital services nearly a week after launching a countrywide strike demanding safer workplaces and swift criminal justice.
Doctors across India have been holding protests and have refused to see non-emergency patients since the August 9 killing of the 31-year-old medic, who police say was raped and murdered at a hospital in Kolkata, where she was a trainee.
Women activists say this incident underscores the ongoing sexual violence faced by women in India, despite the introduction of tougher laws following the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in capital New Delhi.
“Our indefinite sit-in will continue until our demands are met,” said Dr. Aniket Mahata, a spokesperson for the protesting junior doctors at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the incident occurred.
In a show of solidarity, thousands of supporters from West Bengal’s two largest soccer clubs marched through the streets of Kolkata on Sunday evening, chanting “We want justice.”
Junior doctor groups in neighboring Odisha state, the capital New Delhi, and Gujarat have also announced that their protests will continue. They strongly criticized Modi’s government for failing to provide safety to women in the country as Indian is being considered one of the dangerous countries for the women across the world.
