On Cam: Mob Rampages Through Kolkata Hospital During Midnight Protest Against Doctor's Rape-Murder, BJP Blames TMC

Amid the social media-driven ‘Reclaim The Night’ protest by women seeking justice for a 31-year-old trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital, unidentified miscreants forcibly entered the premises of the state-run medical college shortly after midnight on Thursday, and carried out vandalism.

According to the police, a group of nearly 40 people, allegedly disguised as protestors, entered the hospital premises, vandalised property, and hurled stones at police personnel prompting them to fire teargas to disperse the mob.

A police vehicle and a few two-wheelers at the spot were also damaged in the incident, they said.

Some police officers were injured in the violence, an officer said.

“We have an adequate number of personnel posted outside the hospital, and they have been instructed to tackle the situation accordingly,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police told news agency PTI.

Spurred by the ‘Reclaim the Night’ campaign, which gained momentum through social media, the protests began at 11.55 pm, aligning with Independence Day celebrations, and spread across key areas in both small towns and big cities, including several landmarks in Kolkata.

Later, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal reached the spot at around 2 am.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee said that he spoke to Goyal and urged him to “ensure that every individual responsible for today’s violence is identified, held accountable, and made to face the law within the next 24 hours, regardless of their political affiliations”.

“The hooliganism and vandalism at RG Kar tonight have exceeded all acceptable limits. As a public representative, I just spoke with CPKolkata,” he said in a post on X.

“The demands of the protesting doctors are fair and justified. This is the minimum they should expect from the government. Their safety and security must be prioritised,” Banerjee said.

Hours after the mob rampage incident, Pronoy Das, a security guard at the hospital, who was on duty last night, said, “Around 1 am last night when about 500-1000 people came here…We locked the gate here but they broke it down. We went to another gate, but they broke down that too. They were too many, we were 10-12 people and the Police. So we were no match. They barged in and vandalised the property. They have damaged everything, from computers to medicines. They damaged even the CCTV cameras.”

BJP Blames ‘TMC Goons’

BJP leader and leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the vandalism was carried out by “TMC goons” sent by party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

“Mamata Banerjee has sent her TMC goons to the apolitical Protest Rally near RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. She thinks that she is the most shrewd person in the whole world and people won’t be able to figure out the cunning plan that her goons appearing as protestors would mix with the crowd and carry out vandalism inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital,” Adhikari said in a post on X.

Adhikari also alleged that the miscreants were given safe passage by the police.

“They were given safe passage by the Police, who either ran away or looked the other way so that these lumpens would enter the hospital premises and destroy areas containing crucial evidence so that it doesn’t get picked up by the CBI,” he alleged in the post.

A postgraduate trainee doctor was raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata while on duty last week.

The semi-naked body of the 31-year-old woman was found on August 9 morning in the seminar hall of the government-run hospital in the West Bengal capital. A civic volunteer has been arrested in connection with the crime.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the probe into the case from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).