Kolkata: Massive night protests after doctor’s rape and murder

On Wednesday night, tens of thousands of people in West Bengal took to the streets to protest the murder and murder of a intern physician at a state-run clinics in Kolkata last year.

The Reclaim the Night protest marked the end of a nearly a year of ferocious protests that were sparked by the terrible murder and death of a 31-year-old trainee physician at the RG Kar Medical College on Friday.

On a gloomy Wednesday night, people from all walks of life marched across Kolkata area and West Bengal state in response to requests on social advertising.

Though protests were generally quiet, they were marred by conflicts between the officers and a smaller group of unidentified men who barged into the RG Kar Hospital, the page of the doctor’s death, and ransacked the emergency department.

To separate the irate group, police used tear gas. Some authorities vehicles were even damaged.

Smaller demonstrations were also held in many other American cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

Elsewhere in the town, women marched firmly, holding placards of opposition, their faces illuminated by the warmth of cellular phones, light, and flaming torches. Some carried federal colors. They were joined by people, both young and old.

During the parades and at some groups near a university, theatre hall and bus terminal, they stood united, holding arms as the temperate air echoed with quiet and effective slogans of” we want righteousness”. Conch shells were blown by protesters; this is regarded as ominous.

At the stroke of midnight, as India completed 77 years of Independence, the soundscape of protest changed.

A spontaneous chorus of the national anthem filled the air. Then it began raining, but the protesters walked in the rain, or holding umbrellas over their head.

A reporter for a news network reported that” we have never seen anything like before in the city, such a huge gathering of women marching at night.”

It was a night of barely concealed rage and frustration.

A woman, who joined the march well after midnight with her 13-year-old daughter said:” Let her see whether a mass protest can set things right. Let her become aware of her rights”.

” Women have no respect”! said another. Ours is “less valuable than cows and goats.”

” When do we get our independence? How long can we wait without fear to get to work? Another 50 years”? asked a student.

Sanchari Mukherjee claimed that the rain prevented her from marching with thousands of others from a bus stop in Jadavpur.

She met “people of all ages, from all classes, the well-to-do, the middle class and the poor”.

” I saw an elderly couple, the husband helping the woman to walk”, she said.

One family brought their child with them, perhaps so that the memories of this incident would stick in her mind as well: how her parents protested injustice and how she can protest one day.

Ms. Mukherjee claimed that as the marchers passed by illuminated homes and crowding verandahs, the entire city appeared awake as they watched.

” They may not have participated but they were with us in spirit”, she said.

” ‘ We want justice’ had become the anthem of the march, and it did n’t feel like just a slogan”, Ms Mukherjee said.

Every young woman felt deeply hurt, determined, and outraged that these issues are still present in 2024.

Ms. Mukherjee added that because the streets were gridlocked at night late at night, she had to walk a few miles to join the march.

” I was immediately swept up in a sea of people rushing to the protest site. No excitement was present; instead, there was just a determined stoic desire to create an event that would serve as a testament to the coming times.

The protests have been fueled by anger over how the local authorities handled the young trainee doctor’s rape and murder.

She had worked a 36-hour shift last Thursday, but she had fallen asleep in a seminar room because there was no designated area to sleep in.

The next morning, her colleagues discovered her half-naked body on the podium, bearing extensive injuries.

In connection with what they claimed was a case of rape and murder, police later detained a hospital volunteer worker.

But there have been accusations of cover-up and negligence. Local police have since been assigned to the federal Central Bureau of Investigation to handle the case.

Despite scant resources, Kolkata’s Reclaim the Night march appeared to have been meticulously organised. Organizers welcomed women and people from marginalized sexual and gender identities to the march in an advisory.

” Men are welcome as allies and observers”, the advisory added.

They also urged that no party flags be brought to the protest and that politicians were not welcome.

A Reclaim the Night march was staged in India not for the first time.

In response to a march in 1978 in Bombay ( now Mumbai ) in protest of the rape of a woman on the street, the march was inspired by similar marches by women elsewhere in the world to assert their right to walk freely in public without fear.

In Delhi, Blank Noise, a community-based art project and activist collective, has organized several midnight walks to inspire women to assert their right to freely walk at night.

But in terms of scale, the Kolkata march, echoed by smaller ones across other cities, stands as the largest yet.

” We seized the night. This is unlike anything else you can find in this city. This is unprecedented. I hope it wakes up the authorities”, said Chaitali Sen, a protester.