Kolkata rape-murder: Only 17 out of 160 junior women doctors left at RG Kar hospital

Barring 17, all the 160 junior women doctors fearing for their safety have left the campus of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata since the horrific rape and murder of one of their colleagues.

According to a report in The Indian Express, a student is quoted as saying that there were around 160 junior women doctors living in the campus before the August 9 incident. Only 17 women are left at the hostel now.

Moreover, besides the nursing hostel, almost all other hostels at the college are deserted.

The first exodus

The student said terrified students began to leave in the aftermath of the crime that has triggered nationwide protests. Some returned a few days later.

But a mob attack on the hospital on the night of August 14 further created widespread fear, forcing more students, especially girls, to exit for good.

The mob damaged vehicles and vandalised the hospital's emergency department, nursing unit and medicine store besides smashing up CCTVs.

Fearful and scared

The nurses who are still at the campus said that they were scared but they were staying on since they did not have any option.

“Even after such scary incidents we are doing night duties and sometimes we find ourselves alone in a ward. We are now really feeling unsafe,” a nurse asserted.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Aparajita Singh said that out of the nearly 700 resident doctors, only about 30-40 women doctors and 60-70 men doctors were staying on the campus after the vandalism incident.

The gruesome crime

The rape and murder of a junior doctor took place between 3 am and 5 am on August 9. She was sexually assaulted before being strangled and smothered to death.

The suspect, identified as a civic volunteer Sanjoy Roy, has been arrested.