Around a thousand demonstrators clashed with police on the streets of Kolkata on Wednesday as protests aimed at seeking justice for a murdered doctor degenerated into battles between the rival political parties.
The brutal mob attack on the 31-year-old doctor at a state-run medical college hospital in Kolkata on August 9th spurred the entire country with consistent cases of women’s safety. The event led to strikes by the medical staff as well as protests that involved thousands of citizens in India, while many of the doctors returned to their work.
In Kolkata,, the protests have developed into a confrontation between the state-ruling All India Trinamool Congress (AITCM) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Currently, the BJP is in the opposition at the state level while at a national level is the ruling party with Narendra Modi as their Prime Ministerial candidate.
People shouted their slogans such as “We want justice…” Some followers of the BJP called for the removal of AITMC leader and West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from her post. As a result, AITMC advocates began chanting “Go back! Go back!” Banerjee described the BJP as having been involved in “Filthy politics” by merely using the death of a doctor during a procession with her party supporters.
On Tuesday police dispersed the protesters, using tear gas and water cannons, and detained at least 245 people. In response, BJP supporters organized a day-long bandh in Kolkata on Wednesday which provoked more clashes with AITMC supporters.
India’s Supreme Court has directed the formulation of a national task force to look into how the safety of healthcare givers can be improved commenting that it was horrific that the doctor had been killed and that the act had ”shocked the conscience of the nation. ” The barbaric way in which the doctor was killed has been likened to the nauseating December 2012 Delhi rape and murder.
In a country like India where there are more than 1 billion people, in 2022 the rape cases were more than 30,000 and over 86 rapes are reported each day on average. 4 billion.