Indian women protest for more protection in wake of rape-murder of junior doctor

Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of women in eastern India took to the streets overnight to protest the rape and murder of a female junior doctor working the night shift at a public hospital in Kolkata.

The Reclaim the Night march on the eve of a holiday to mark 77 years of independence from Britain capped off five days of nationwide demonstrations by medics sparked by the killing of the unnamed 31-year-old resident at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Friday.

A man who volunteers at the hospital has been arrested in connection with the killing but the women are demanding "independence to live in freedom and without fear" while the medics called for a federal law to protect female doctors and nurses.

Almost 30% of India's doctors and 80% of nurses are women.

The protesters are also calling for justice amid fears of a cover-up after the hospital allegedly initially claimed the woman, a doctoral student, took her own life. The sudden resignation Monday of the college's principal in the midst of the crisis sparked further anger after it was revealed he had moved straight into a new post at the city's National Medical College and Hospital.

On Tuesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation in New Delhi took over the case and custody of the suspect ahead of Wednesday's protests as the row escalated.

The ER of the hospital was stormed and vandalized Wednesday night by a mob who attacked police and damaged police vehicles. Police responded by firing tear gas.

Reports circulated on social media said the mob ransacked the crime scene -- a seminar room where the female doctor was attacked as she slept -- claims police moved quiclky to quash, threatening to prosecute those putting out false information.

"Scene of Crime is Seminar Room which is intact and has not been touched. Don't spread fake news. We will take legal action," Kolkata Police said in a post on X .

Elsewhere, the protests across the state of West Bengal and in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, in which many men also took part, mostly went off without incident.

Mamata Banerjee, the state's chief minister, who had been heavily criticized for the handling of the case, pleaded Wednesday with doctors to stand down and give authorities the time and space to properly investigate, saying that innocent people were being hurt.

"Give the death penalty to those who are actually responsible for the crime but innocents should not be punished," said Banerjee, the leader of the ruling All India Trinamool Congress party (an offshoot of the Congress Party) she founded.

"I plead before you, if needed I am ready to touch your feet, to go back to work. Three people have lost their lives, one of them a child and another a pregnant woman."

Banerjee stressed she respected both senior and junior doctors but asked for their patience saying she was confident the CBI would meet the Aug. 18 deadline she had set for police to complete the investigation.

However, state Gov. Ananda Bose, a member of the opposition BJP party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi , accused the police of corruption and blamed the government for what he called a "bloodbath."

"It is a shame for Bengal and India and humanity. The custodians of law have themselves become conspirators . A section of the police is politicized and criminalized. This rot has to end," he told a news conference Thursday after inspecting the damage from the previous night's attack.

"The government is responsible for this. The first responsibility lies with the government," said Bose. "We want security so that when you go to work at night you are safe. It is nothing but a bloodbath going on."

In his Independence Day address Thursday, Prime Minister Modi called for the "strictest punishment" for perpetrators of "atrocities against our mothers and sister" both as deterrence and so that people do not lose faith in society.

"The country, society, our state governments need to take this seriously. Crimes against women need to be probed as soon as possible and those involved in demonic acts must face strict punishment at the earliest," said Modi who did not directly refer to events in West Bengal.