Tension was palpable in Kolkata today as the police stormed the Karunamoyee metro station to arrest the BJP women’s wing leaders who demonstrated against the poor response of the state to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at RG Kar Medical College. Romanticized by photographers, videos of demonstrators running into the metro station while policemen in riot suits chased them were recorded.
The BJP activists had planned to stage a rally at the state women’s commission office in Salt Lake, alleging that the commission is partial to the incident after the body of the victim was found on August 9. But the police acted and arrested the demonstrators ‘one by one’ as they tried to seek shelter in the station.
The protest was led by members of the BJP’s National Executive—Smt Agnimitra Paul, Smt Debasree Choudhury, and Smt Locket Chatterjee. Earlier in the day, activists of the Bengal police prevented another rally from going through and arrested nearly 20 activists heading towards the commission’s office.
The violence built up after the heinous act happened, and the BJP has called for justice while blaming the TMC and its leader, CM Mamata Banerjee, for incompetence.
Questions remain about how Sanjoy Roy, the accused, had free and unfettered access to the state-owned hospital at any time of the day or night. Some indications suggest that he was involved in bribery; he could have booked a patient in a hospital and, in return, been paid.
The Congress has been critical of the ruling party not only by BJP or the left front but also by the ruling party’s own ally. The leader of the Indian opposition in the lower house of the parliament, Rahul Gandhi, said in his turn: “Instead of giving the victim proper justice, they try to save the accused; this situation calls into question the hospital and the local administration.
