Kolkata rape-murder: Junior doctors, political parties begin protest rallies after suspects get bail

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A day after two key suspects in the Kolkata rape-murder case were granted bail, the Left parties and the Congress took to the streets in the West Bengal capital on Saturday, holding protest rallies and accusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of having "failed" to deliver justice in the case.

The parties also alleged that there was a "tacit understanding" between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre, news agency PTI reported.

The Congress organised a procession from Rabindra Sadan to the CBI office at Nizam Palace in southern Kolkata, criticising the central probe agency for its alleged failure to frame charges against the two accused in the Kolkata rape-murder case. During the procession, Congress activists held party flags high and chanted slogans such as "We demand justice" and "Bichar chai Tilottoma (Tilottoma wants justice)". The police stopped the protesters from entering Nizam Palace, leading to a scuffle between the demonstrators and law enforcement officers, PTI reported.

Hundreds of locals also joined a rally organised by the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front (WBJDF), which marched from Karunamayee to another CBI office at CGO Complex in Salt Lake, covering a distance of one kilometre. The junior doctors' forum organised the march to protest the "delay in framing charges by the CBI" against all the "conspirators" involved in the Kolkata rape-murder case. The parents of the victim were also present at the rally.

On August 9, the body of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar hall of RG Kar Hospital, where she had been practising. After it emerged that the young trainee had been brutally raped and murdered, doctors across the country began protesting, demanding justice for the victim and better security for the medical fraternity.

"We will fight for justice and it is our right," the victim's mother said. Protesters carried placards reading: "If the system has failed, we will make it function to deliver justice."

In a separate rally, activists from the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) marched from Karunamoyee to the CGO Complex in Salt Lake, while another rally was organised by the Students' Federation of India (SFI) in the College Street area, north of the city.

The Sealdah court in Kolkata had granted bail on Friday to two key suspects in the case: Sandip Ghosh - the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital - and Abhijit Mondal, the former officer-in-charge of Tala Police Station. The two were granted bail after CBI "failed" to file a charge sheet against them within the mandatory 90-day period.

(With PTI inputs)