'We Want Justice': Thousands march across Bengal seeking justice for RG Kar doctor killed in 2024

Kolkata:Thousands of people, a large number of them women across all age groups, took to the streets in different parts of city and elsewhere in West Bengal demanding justice for the raped-murdered woman medic of the state-run RG Kar Hospital on August 9 last year.

Protestors gathered at key locations across the city including 8B Bus Stand (Jadavpur), Ruby More, Sinthee More, Academy of Fine Arts, Sealdah, Hazra More, and Baisnabghata, as well as in North 24 Parganas at Sodpur Traffic More and Barasat..

Many held torches and mobile flashlights through the night, reminiscent of last year’s 'Women Reclaim the Night' movement held on the same date.

"Over a year has passed since the brutal attack on our sister at a state-run hospital. But excepting one, no other arrests and convictions have been made. The larger conspiracy behind the crime is yet to be unravelled by either state police or CBI. We are out on the streets demanding security for every woman so that none is raped, molested, harassed any more," Rimjhim Sinha, who had spearheaded the 'Women Reclaim the Night' campaign a year ago on August 14, said.

"We demand every woman can move around freely wiithout any fear any time of the day," she added.

Present at the Jadavpur rally was the mother of Tamanna Khatun, the 13-year-old girl who was killed in a bomb explosion allegedly by TMC activists in Nadia's Kaliganj area following the party's victory in the bypoll on June 24.

"I stand with the mother of the RG Kar victim. My daughter had no involvement in politics, yet she was killed. Many of those named in the FIR are still free. We demand justice for all our daughters who’ve faced such brutality," she said.

"We demand the arrest of all those involved in the RG Kar incident and all other incidents of murders and rapes of girls and women and lack of police action to bring to book the perpetrators of the crimes. I will attend this event every year demanding punishment of all the predators who are still at large," Tamanna's mother said.

At Ranuchhaya Manch, opposite Academy of Fine Arts, artists and students created symbolic street graffiti reflecting violence against women.

Cultural performances, including poetry, songs, and street plays, continued through the night as part of what organisers called a "peaceful people's movement." Platform member and writer-social activist Satabdi Das said, "We will stage streetplays, sing and recite poems till 4 am in our peaceful people's movement."

At Sinthir More, veteran actor Parann Bandyopadhyay said, "Time has to come when people must together to raise protest against injustices. The RG Kar incident shook our conscience. We must continue the momentum to prevent such incidents from recurring. We must identify all the perpetrators who commit atrocities against women." Similar assembly of peaceful protestors also took place in many other pockets - from VIP Road Kestopur to Barasat Colony More to Sodpur Traffic More and elsewhere in the state.

While one person had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape-murder of the woman doctor, civil society members, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, senior doctors, and the victim’s parents believe a larger conspiracy remains uninvestigated.