Kolkata doctors defy court order after medic’s murder

• Junior doctors in West Bengal defied a Supreme Court order to return to work following the murder of a female doctor.
• The case, involving a 31-year-old trainee doctor, was charged and arrested by police.
• The Indian Medical Association supports the protest.

On Tuesday, junior doctors in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal defied a Supreme Court order to return to work, vowing to continue their weeks-long strike for workplace safety following the gruesome murder of a female doctor.

In early August, a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered inside the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal’s capital, where she worked.

Police have charged and arrested a volunteer working at the hospital with the murder, but the case has sparked daily demonstrations by medics demanding greater protection and workplace safety.

On Monday, the Supreme Court, responding to nationwide outrage over the incident, ordered the protesting doctors to return to work by 5 p.m. the following day and directed state authorities to ensure the safety and security of doctors in hospitals.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, representing about 7,000 physicians in the state, said it would comply with the court’s order only if the state met their safety demands.

“The Supreme Court has said that the state can take action after 5 p.m., if they want to. At the same time, the Supreme Court has also asked the state to increase the security measures which has not been done at all,” Dr. Anustup Pal, the association’s member, told Arab News, as protesters gathered in front of the state’s health department to demand the resignation of its key leadership.

“We will continue till the demand is met,” Pal said. “We are unhappy at the representation done by the state at the Supreme Court.”

The West Bengal chapter of the Indian Medical Association, the country’s top physicians’ body, supports the protest. After the court’s order, the association issued a statement saying that no steps were being taken to deliver justice for the brutal murder and warned that the protest “will not die down.”

Dr. Sourav Datta, a member of the association’s central committee, told the news that “almost no demand” from the protesting doctors had been fulfilled so far.

“Whatever decision they will take, the IMA will unconditionally give support to them,” he said. “The IMA will be with them.”

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