Kolkata doctor rape-murder: AIIMS Bhubaneswar doctors join protest, demand death penalty for accused

In a powerful display of solidarity, hundreds of doctors of the prestigious AIIMS Bhubaneswar suspended all non-emergency services and staged protest in response to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The bone-chilling incident has ignited widespread outrage, triggering nationwide protests. Slogans of ‘save doctors’, ‘girls are not objects, stop rape terrorism’, ‘Nyay Do Insaaf Do’ echoed on the premises of the prestigious medical institute.

However, the doctors made sure that the emergency, OPD and IPD services were not affected due to the strike.

“We have faculties; additional professors, associate additional professors are making sure that emergency, OPD and IPD services are not affected. All care is being taken and we will ensure patient services will remain normal,” informed Dr. Prabhas Tripathy, Additional Superintendent, AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

“Our demand is that doctors or any other medical staff should be protected at the workplace. Luckily, security arrangement in our hospital is very tight,” he added.

Meanwhile, the protesting doctors demanded the accused to be hanged to death.

“We are standing in solidarity with our fellow doctor who was raped and brutally murdered in the most inhumane way in Kolkata’s hospital. We demand justice for the victim’s family and the criminal to be given death penalty,” said a senior doctor.

“We have to work for 36 hours, but we do not have separate rooms even for changing. So, we demand the security arrangements to be further tightened,” she added.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem reports suggest the doctor was subjected to ‘genital torture’ with her hyoid bone broken, blood spilling from her eyes, black mark all over her body, blood from her private part, seminal fluid of ‘multiple persons’ inside her body.

While one accused has been arrested, netizens suspect the involvement of more people in the heinous crime. On the other hand, family members of the victim shared harrowing details of their ordeal and told that they were made to wait outside the hospital for three hours and were told that their daughter had died by suicide.