RG Kar case: Hunger strike by junior doctors enters 5th day

KOLKATA: The fast-unto-death protest of seven junior doctors at Esplanade in Kolkata, over the rape and murder of their colleague in the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College Hospital entered the fifth day on Wednesday that coincides with the occasion of Maha Shashthi or the sixth day of Navaratri.

On this auspicious day of celebration for the people of West Bengal, the protesting juniors will carry out different programmes in support of their demands on the issue.

There will be a blood donation camp at R.G. Kar's premises in memory of the ghastly rape and murder. The protesting junior doctors will also carry the symbolic statue of the victim, “A woman in pain” and visit the different Durga Puja pandals from North Kolkata to South Kolkata distributing leaflets containing their 10-point demands on which they are protesting.

Wednesday is supposed to be another significant day as the senior doctors of a number of medical colleges and hospitals in Kolkata might announce their decision to tender mass resignations following the footsteps of their colleagues at R.G. Kar.

On Wednesday, as many as 50 senior doctors of R.G. Kar tendered their mass resignation expressing solidarity towards the movements by their junior colleagues.

“The decision of our seniors has strengthened our morale to carry out our movements. We heard that some kind of administrative pressure is being built up on them since they tendered their mass resignations. If that is so, we will increase the intensity of our movement,” said a representative of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), the umbrella body of junior doctors spearheading the movement on this issue.

Meanwhile, the parents of the victim too have been holding a sit-in demonstration in front of their residence at Panihati in North 24 Parganas district since Tuesday evening. They will be continuing to do so till Saturday which will coincide with the auspicious occasion of Vijaya Dashami, the day of immersion of Durga idols.

According to them, since the immersion of their “Durga” happened much before the immersion of their idols, it will be impossible for them to be at home during the Puja days and, hence will be sitting outside their house till Vijaya Dashami.