Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: Inconclusive Second Talks, Junior Doctors Extend Ceasework
The junior doctors have been protesting for over a month after a trainee doctor was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata.
After a marathon 6-hour-long meeting with the top officials of the West Bengal government, the junior doctors on Wednesday night said their cease work would continue as they received only “verbal assurances” on their demands.
The junior doctors have been protesting for over a month after a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. “While we appreciate the government’s verbal commitments, we are hopeful for a written directive that formally acknowledges our demands. Until then, we will maintain our current course of action,” Debashish Haldar, a leading member of the junior doctors’ delegation said after coming out of Nabanna, the state secretariat, on Wednesday night.
The junior doctors, under the banner of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF), emphasized that including the verbal assurances in the official minutes of the meeting minutes would have been a “sign of good faith and commitment” from the government. Expressing disappointment that their demands were not included in the minutes of the meeting, the delegation said they would discuss with their colleagues.
“We could not do the video streaming of the meeting. Many of our friends are protesting day and night and are on the roads. They couldn’t be here. So for them, we wanted to include their verbal assurance in minutes of the meeting. However, it was not done… We understand that government directives take time, but they should have allowed including their verbal assurance in the minutes of the meeting. We lost all hope towards the end (of the meeting). We will wait till directives are issued before deciding on our next course of action. For now, the cease work will continue,” Haldar added.
The fresh round of talks comes two days after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, following which the government removed Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and senior Health Department officials.
With the doctors continuing their cease work, they demanded another meeting with the state government over some “unfulfilled demands”. Agreeing readily for the talks, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant sent an invite to meet a delegation of 30 junior doctors at 6.30 pm at Nabanna.
At the outset of the meeting, the chief secretary informed the delegation that the directions of the Supreme Court in its Tuesday’s order will be adhered to by the state Government within a stipulated time frame.
At the meeting, a source said, the senior police officers informed the WBJDF representatives about the details of the security audit of the healthcare facilities being carried out by the state government.
The chief secretary also requested the representatives to resume their duties immediately to “ensure seamless delivery of healthcare services to the people of the state”.
According to the junior doctors, their demands included the suspensions of more officials, resignation of the state health secretary and security in hospitals.
After their last meeting on Tuesday, junior doctors sent an email to Pant stating, “We were assured in the (previous) meeting (that) a special task force presided by you will be formed to address these issues and further discussions with us would take place regarding its formulation and function.” the junior doctors had written in a fresh email to Pant.
While addressing their mail, Pant said that members of the task force would be present at Wednesday’s meeting and reiterated that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has “already announced the constitution of a task force.”
As he again appealed to the striking doctors to return to their “duties”, his email sent on Wednesday afternoon 2.49 pm, stated, “You are aware that many districts of South Bengal are facing flood-like situations with vast areas inundated,” Pant added before appealing again to the striking doctors to return to their “duties”.
“In the light of the above situation, while we again appeal to you to join duties in larger public interest and provide services to common people, I along with the other members of the task force will meet your delegation of 30 members at Nabanna Sabhaghar today at 6.30 pm,” it further read.
The junior doctors’ last email to the chief secretary on Wednesday read, “In reference to our last meeting with our Hon’ble CM, we would like to reiterate there were certain key points regarding our five-point demands which were left unresolved. Particularly our fourth and fifth point, concerning the development of the healthcare system, safety, security, and prevailing threat culture… We would like to sit in a meeting with you and other members of the task force today regarding the same. We are eagerly waiting for your positive response.”
On Tuesday night, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front announced that they would continue their cease work until “all demands are met”, calling the state government’s transfers a “partial victory”, after meeting the chief minister on Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Monday claimed that her government has accepted “99%” of the junior doctors’ demands because they are “younger” in age, to which junior doctors said in their press conference, “She agreed because of our widespread protest — not because we are young.”
After Tuesday’s meeting, the state government removed and transferred Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Division) Abhishek Gupta, Director of Medical Education Dr. Kaustav Nayak, and Director of Health Services Debashish Halder.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday said that since the West Bengal government has transferred top health department officials and Kolkata police officers, the protesting junior doctors should end their strike “as a gesture of goodwill” and work in collaboration with the state government.
“As a gesture of goodwill, the doctors should now consider calling off the strike and work collaboratively with GoWB to serve the people and expedite the implementation of the task force’s initiatives to ensure these changes are promptly executed,” he posted on his social media handle on ‘X’.
Abhishek said that working “collaboratively” would “expedite the implementation of the task force’s initiatives to ensure these changes are promptly executed.”
The Lok Sabha MP said that the CBI, which is currently probing the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case, should be “held accountable” — “the CBI’s record speaks for itself: over the past 10 years, they have not completed a single investigation they have undertaken,” he wrote in a post on X.
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