Kolkata rape and murder: Massive 'Reclaim the Night for Women' protest midnight today
People will gather at midnight in 45 different locations across Bengal at midnight on eve of Independence Day to protest gruesome murder of a doctor in Kolkata
The gruesome murder of a young doctor while on duty in a state-run Kolkata hospital has provoked many men and women, including politicians and celebrities, to hit the streets to join a massive ‘Reclaim the Night for Women' protest in at least 45 different locations across West Bengal at midnight on Wednesday, on the eve of the country's 78th Independence Day.
According to the organisers in several districts, the protestors will start gathering late on Wednesday night and their agitation will continue after midnight on Independence Day. Their demand: freedom for Bengal’s women.
A social media campaign has been urging people from all walks of life to join the protest, which is being described as ‘For women’s independence on the midnight of Independence,’ with participants encouraged to hold candles and blow conch shells, said news reports.
Details about the locations earmarked for the protest in different parts of Kolkata and in other towns across Bengal are being widely shared. On WhatsApp, slogans such as 'Justice for RG Kar', 'The Night is Ours', 'Reclaim the Night', 'Meyera Raat er Dhokhol Koro (Women seize the night)', and 'Meyera Raat er Dokhol Nao… Sankha Dhonite Bhoriye Dao (Women seize the night… fill it with the sound of conch shells) are being circulated.
Politicians to join midnight protest
As the momentum for the protest event is picking up on WhatsApp and other social media platforms since Wednesday morning, leaders from both the ruling and Opposition parties too want to join this so far apolitical movement on the streets.
In a post on X, TMC MP had said he would join the protesters at an earlier time as he has a daughter and a grand-daughter like millions of Bengali families. “Enough of cruelty against women. Let's resist together. Come what may, " he posted on the microblogging site. And did not seem to worry if he gets thrown out of his party for being part of the protestes.
Delhi, Bengaluru, Guwahati join in
Other cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Guwahati too will hold 'Women, Reclaim the Night' protest events. “We are gathering peacefully to reclaim our night”, says the posters.
Meanwhile, widespread agitation by junior doctors has crippled state healthcare services as emergency and outdoor departments too are not functioning in most state-run hospitals.
On Wednesday afternoon, doctors, nurses and other staff from all major private hospitals such as Manipal, Medica, Peerless and RN Tagore marched from Mukundapur to Ruby intersection in Kolkata.
This massive protest is being held even as a team of senior CBI officers, who reached Kolkata on Wednesday morning, started their investigations into the horrific incident and will visit the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital with medical and forensic experts.
Victim's family recounts tale of horror
The family of the 31-year-old trainee doctor, who was brutally raped said in an interview to Lallantop that on August 9 (the day the doctor's body was found) they were initially told by the Kolkata police that their daughter had died by suicide. They kept the family waiting for three hours before allowing the father to see his daughter’s brutalised body. Relatives told the media that the mother is inconsolable.
The post-mortem report of the trainee doctor has revealed that she was subjected to "genital torture". The report indicated that the rapits had hit her so hard that the glasses of her spectacles shattered and the shards pierced her eyes.
The report stated, “There was bleeding from both her eyes and mouth and injuries over the face. The victim was also bleeding from her private parts. She also has injuries in her belly, left leg... neck, in her right hand, ring finger and... lips.”