Family members of a doctor, who was allegedly raped and murdered in Kolkata last month, joined the protesting medics at RG Kar hospital on Wednesday and accused the Kolkata Police of attempting to suppress the case by hurriedly cremating the body of the doctor.
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan criticised the West Bengal government over law and order and accused the TMC of sheltering infiltrators and manipulating demographics.
"I cannot take this insult anymore. All the allegations raised against me are false and fabricated. A student movement has been incited to remove me. There is a political mind behind this. I had informed police within an hour of the incident. CCTV footage has been handed over to police," Ghosh said.
The agitating doctors confirmed on Monday evening that they are willing to attend a meeting at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence to resolve the RG Kar hospital impasse but demanded they should be allowed to record and sign the minutes of the talks.
Amid persistent rain, the protesting doctors continued their sit-in outside 'Swasthya Bhavan', the state health department headquarters in Salt Lake, for the sixth consecutive day.
The first round of talks between the West Bengal government and the agitating junior doctors began at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kalighat on Monday evening to address the RG Kar impasse.
The MHA said that the law and order situation of all states should be monitored in view of the protests.
FORDA said the decision to end the strike, effective from Wednesday morning, was made in the interest of patient welfare.
The court directed the Kolkata Police to hand over the case diary to the central probe agency by Tuesday evening, and all other documents by 10 am on Wednesday.
The incident took place amid midnight protests by women against the horrific rape-murder of the doctor at the hospital.
Despite Banerjee's promise of a transparent investigation, the protesters criticised the delay, demanding a judicial inquiry, capital punishment for the culprits, and adequate compensation for the victim's family.
Seeking prompt removal of identifiable references of the deceased from all social media platforms, the IT ministry warned that failure to comply with the apex court's order may result in legal consequences and further regulatory action.
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 police have certain logistical limitations in monitoring the movement of every individual, Banerjee said.
The ongoing agitation has also led the Federation of All India Medical Association to warn that it would declare a nationwide "complete shutdown of medical services" if any "any harm befalls brave junior doctors".
"The friend left her alone when three unidentified men arrived there. The men snatched her phone and took her to a jungle outside the campus, where they raped her. She was threatened with dire consequences if she told anyone about the incident," the officer said.
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.
The death of a 24-year-old nurse at a private nursing home in West Bengal's Hooghly district has triggered political unrest and allegations of a cover-up. Opposition parties are demanding a fair investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death, alleging foul play and potential sexual assault.
Following a meeting with the medics, she claimed that talks were "fruitful" and nearly "99 percent of their demands have been accepted", Banerjee said.
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose reached Delhi on Monday night amid speculations that he may meet President Droupadi Murmu and senior leaders.
Police delayed seizing the clothes of Sanjay Roy, an accused in the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College, for two days though his role had been established on August 10, a day after the crime, Central Bureau of Investigation officials said on Wednesday.
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 junior doctors called off their 'total cease work' at state-run medical colleges and hospitals around 8.30 pm on Friday but threatened to launch a hunger strike till death if their demands were not met by the West Bengal government within 24 hours.
Bandyopadhyay, eminent playwright and director, said in a statement that he is returning the award conferred on him earlier this year by the Paschimbanga Natya Akademi and the Rs 30,000 monetary grant.
The top court on Monday directed the protesting resident doctors to resume work by 5 pm on Tuesday, observing that if "there is continued abstention from work, there may be a likelihood of adverse action".
'Sanjay Roy is not alone.' 'If he's kept alive, maybe we will know what happened.' 'Why was he in the chest medicine department that night when he never went there earlier?' 'Nobody will parade in front of a CCTV camera and then go and murder someone.' 'There are several people who are involved in this heinous crime. They have to be identified and punished.'
The second round of talks between junior doctors and officials of the West Bengal government failed to break the medics' strike over the RG Kar issue, following the state's refusal to give written minutes of the meeting, the doctors alleged.
While one was organised by the alumni of Ramakrishna Mission-run educational institutions, another involved students and past pupils from a well-known convent school, both echoing the demand for justice for the medic.
The state police have called the scheduled rallies, support for which has been mainly garnered over social media platforms, as "illegal" and "unauthorised", and said they have taken necessary precautions to allay apprehensions about potential law and order situations during the march.
The Mamata Banerjee government will table the anti-rape bill in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday.
According to the cause list of August 20 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear on Tuesday.
The body of the woman post-graduate trainee, who was allegedly raped and murdered inside a seminar hall of the hospital, was found on Friday morning. A civic volunteer was arrested in this connection on Saturday.
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.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to transfer the rape and murder trial pertaining to a doctor in Kolkata outside West Bengal.
Kolkata Police on Friday said it has so far arrested 19 people in connection with the vandalism and violence at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in the metropolis.
The medics, however, declared that they would stick to their original demand of taking part in the meeting with 30 members instead of 15 people as mandated by the state government.
Ending the logjam persisting for 42 days in the wake of the rape and murder of a young doctor at RG Kar hospital, the agitating medics withdrew the 'cease work' after holding a march to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in Salt Lake in Kolkata from the state health department's headquarters, where they had been demonstrating for over a week.
The CBI, tasked by the Calcutta high court to probe the case, received local court approval to conduct a polygraph test on the accused, days after performing a psychoanalysis test on him.
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.
In response to the tragic incident, many committees scaled back their celebrations significantly.
