The police in India used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the hundreds of protesters who marched in Kolkata, a city in eastern India, on Tuesday. They were demanding the resignation of an important state minister following the brutal rape and killing of a young doctor.
Television footage showed that university students led protesters who broke through iron barricades on their march towards the West Bengal State Secretariat. The police then charged with batons, having earlier declared the demonstration illegal.
The attack on the 31-year-old doctor on August 9 has caused widespread outrage. It is similar to the protests that followed the gang rape in 2012 of a student, aged 23, on a moving New Delhi bus. Campaigners say women still suffer high levels of sexual abuse despite stricter laws.
The federal police have taken over the investigation after a police volunteer was arrested.
Since the R.G. hospital incident in Kolkata, junior doctors have refused non-emergency cases. Kar Medical College protested, demanding justice for victims and more safety for women in hospitals.
The Indian Supreme Court created a task force for hospital safety and asked doctors to return to work. However, some refused, including those in West Bengal where Kolkata is the capital.
A senior officer reported that more than 5,000 officers were deployed on Tuesday in Kolkata and Howrah. This was as the protests by university students demanding the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took off.
Kunal Ghosh is a spokesperson of Banerjee’s ruling Trinamool Congress Party. He blamed the crackdown by the police on the “lawlessness” caused by the workers and groups associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition in the state led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP extended its support to protesting students. Senior state leader Suvendu Adhikari, however, told reporters Banerjee’s administration was attempting to suppress the rape-murder incident. This charge has been denied by the state government.
