Agitating junior doctors, whose nine representatives are on a fast-unto-death demonstration, termed talks with senior officials of the West Bengal government as 'the most disappointing meeting so far'.
The Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam on Wednesday cancelled its advisory to women doctors and other staffers asking them to avoid going alone to isolated places at night.
Observing that working conditions have made doctors and health professionals susceptible to violence, the Supreme Court on Tuesday constituted a 10-member task force to formulate a national protocol for ensuring safety and facilities for them in the wake of the rape and murder of a medic in Kolkata.
Long queues were seen at outpatient department ticket counters in government hospitals, where senior doctors joined their junior colleagues in the protest.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Saturday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'benign intervention' to bring a central law to check violence against healthcare personnel and declare hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements.
In a rerun of the 'Reclaim the Night' campaign, hundreds of women took to the streets in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal on Sunday night, demanding justice for the alleged rape and murder of a doctor in the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
'If she manages to throw out people, go for surgical operations, clean up her image, she will be victorious.'
The state government, however, maintained it has no intimation so far from the central government or the governor's office regarding their "observations" on certain provisions in the Bill.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged in the Supreme Court on Thursday that there was an attempt to cover up the rape and killing of a post-graduate medic at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital by the local police as the crime scene was altered by the time the federal agency took over the probe.
Terming the rape and murder case of a medic at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital as horrific, the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the West Bengal government over delay in filing first information report (FIR) in the matter.
A team of polygraph specialists flown to Kolkata from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Delhi is conducting the tests, they said.
The Mamata Banerjee government will table the anti-rape bill in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday.
'The political situation in the country will depend on the electoral outcome in Maharashtra.'
The rally was not allowed to proceed towards the South Calcutta Law College, where the 24-year-old student was allegedly gang-raped by three men, including an alumnus of the institute, on June 25.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged the junior doctors protesting the rape and murder of their colleague at R G Kar Hospital to end their fast-unto-death stir, stating that most of their demands have been addressed while rejecting their insistence on removing the state health secretary.
According to the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, during the indefinite strike, all outpatient departments, operation theatres, and ward duties will be shut, but emergency services will continue to operate as usual, ensuring that urgent patient care remains unaffected.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the TMC, accusing them of prioritizing vote-bank politics over national security and Bengali identity by promoting infiltration. He also highlighted the BJP's vision for a developed and prosperous Bengal, promising a clean break from the past.
To a question, the officer said that the prime accused, an ex-student of the college and a practising criminal lawyer, raped her while the other two stood guard outside the room.
The police were waiting for the final post-mortem examination report to come to a conclusion regarding the murder of a woman doctor, whose body was found in state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, an officer said.
FORDA said the decision to end the strike, effective from Wednesday morning, was made in the interest of patient welfare.
West Bengal is home to 43,000 Durga Pujas, and the business around it is a major economic driver.
The anger and the anguish are on the rise. News of a botched-up post mortem, tampering of evidence, a hurried cremation has gone global, reports Payal Singh Mohanka from London.
A year after the RG Kar rape-murder Swarupa Dutt/Rediff look at the city where it happened, Kolkata -- its study in dichotomy, at once the self-proclaimed cultural capital of India as also a petri dish for a peculiar rage that breeds crimes against women.
During the investigation, it was found that he had a history of physically abusing his wives, he said.
The deputy chief minister called for the "strictest of strict" action against perpetrators of such crimes.
Two months after a junior doctor was brutally raped and killed, the doctors' protest in Kolkata rages on.
'The Bengali middle class, who never fully embraced Mamata Banerjee's policies, are now expressing their deep-seated frustration by spilling out on to the streets.'
'When we get justice we will stop the protest.'
'The TMC can't go on forever taking advantage of the people's fright of the BJP.'
The body of the post-graduate trainee doctor with severe injury marks was found on Friday inside the seminar hall of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital's chest department. The preliminary autopsy report suggested she was subjected to violent sexual assault.
In a joint statement, they noted that while the incident highlights the prevailing "apathy, misgovernance and lack of accountability" in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, the state government's "apparent inclination" to shield perpetrators rather than protect victims is a "grave miscarriage of justice".
Several opposition MPs, who had previously criticized former Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, are now praising him following his sudden resignation, with some even requesting him to reconsider.
Bose is on record that the government cannot evade responsibility and remain silent on the disturbing developments in the state.
Daily life was partially affected in West Bengal on Wednesday due to a 12-hour shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party, protesting the police action against demonstrators during a march to the state secretariat.
A woman was stabbed to death in Kolkata after being chased and allegedly stabbed multiple times outside a popular eatery by three people, including a minor. Police suspect the attack was an honor killing, as the victim was reportedly having an extramarital affair with one of the suspects. The three suspects have been arrested.
Responding to the 'Women, Reclaim the Night' call given on social media by commoners, college students, home-makers and employees of offices will congregate in key thoroughfares in small towns and big cities, including in various parts of Kolkata.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Agitating junior doctors demanding justice for the deceased woman medic of the Kar Medical College and Hospital and workplace safety continued their hunger strike until death on Sunday in the central part of the Kolkata's Dharmatala area.
The protest continued even as the Supreme Court intervened in the matter and constituted a 10-member National Task Force to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other healthcare professionals.
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