From 'Gherao' to 'Chakka Jam', BJP Announces Series of Protests Against Abhaya Rape and Murder

Kolkata: The Bhartiya Janata Party has announced a series of protests between Aug 28 and Sept 4 against the Kolkata Rape and Murder Case.

It has almost been a fortnight since the gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital qand the investigation is still underway.

BJP Announces Series of Protest Against Kolkata Rape and Murder Case

Stepping up the attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar has announced a series of programmes to protest the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at a state-run hospital here over two weeks back.

The programmes will be held across the state between August 28 and September 4, said Majumdar, also a Union minister.

BJP Protests Against Abhaya Rape and Murder: Full Schedule

• Demanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's resignation for her alleged failure to address the issue of women's safety, Majumdar said the party will begin a sit-in in Esplanade area of Kolkata from August 28 while the party's women's wing will lock the gates of the state women's commission office.

"The state women's commission seems to have gone into a stupor," Majumdar told reporters on the sidelines of a demonstration by BJP in Shyambazar area of the city.

• The BJP leader said that on August 29, party activists will gherao the district magistrate's office in every district at noon.
• Protests will be held outside the administrative offices in every block on September 2.
• On September 4, a 'chakka jam' will be observed everywhere in the state stalling the movement of traffic for one hour, he said.

CM Shielding ‘Big Fish Involved in Shady Deals’: BJP's' Allegations on TMC

Majumdar claimed the ongoing CBI probe into the alleged financial irregularities in R G Kar Medical College and Hospital showed the nexus between the state and the corrupt hospital lobby.

The chief minister is shielding "big fishes involved in the shady deals amounting to crores," he alleged.

"We demand the phone conversation between the CM and a powerful official of the hospital be brought under the ambit of investigation by CBI," the Union Minister of State for Education said.

TMC Responds to BJP's Planned Programmes

Responding to BJP's planned programmes, TMC state spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar said, "To divert the focus from the delay by CBI in tracking the perpetrators of the crime, the BJP is trying to foment trouble in the state and disrupt normal life." "While the entire West Bengal is asking the CBI to ensure justice is done to the victim doctor, the BJP's only demand is resignation of the CM who has expressed solidarity with the victim's family and stood by them. She also reiterated her government and party's stance about zero tolerance to incidents like rape," he added.

Another TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said the main demand of every citizen of the state centres around the punishment of all those involved in the rape and murder of the doctor, but the BJP is talking about so-called financial irregularities in the hospital.

"This shows the BJP is not serious about the main issue of women's safety, the issue flagged by lakhs of women of West Bengal. TMC shares the concern of the women of the state and demands justice for the victim. The CBI should speed up the probe on this," Ghosh said. 

Kolkata Rape and Murder Case

A trainee doctor, ‘Abhaya’ was brutally raped and murdered at the seminar room of her hospital, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, when she was resting after her 36-hour shift.

The main accused, Sanjoy Roy has been arrested and is in police custody for 14 days and the case is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Supreme Court of India has taken suo moto cognisance in this rape and murder case as protests heightened across the country. 

The former principal of RG Kar, Sandip Ghosh is being interrogated by the CBI and so are his associates and aides; CBI has also found financial irregularities at the government-run hgospital.

The accused, Ghosh and five others are undergoing polygraph test after the approval of the court.

(Inputs from PTI)