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Kolkata: The mother of the trainee doctor raped and murdered on August 9, 2024 at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was released from a private hospital in the city on Sunday after being treated for a head injury she suffered the day before when police stopped a citizens’ rally held to seek justice for her daughter.
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“The doctors treated my wife but the hospital did not admit her as a patient. The doctors said they were under political pressure. Also, the medical report the hospital tried to give me today did not mention that my wife was hit with batons by the police. I have sought the correct report,” the trainee doctor’s father told the media.
“When we took my wife to the hospital, use of batons was mentioned as the cause of injury in a report the hospital staff wrote in front of me. But they changed the paper and wrote that my wife was injured in an accident during the rally,” he said.
“This is a medico-legal document. A hearing on our appeal (in the RG Kar Hospital case) is scheduled to be held at the Calcutta high court on Monday. Our lawyer will raise this issue,” he added.
Senior counsel Phiroze Edulji, who is representing the family in court, visited the private hospital on Sunday but refused to comment on his plans.
The hospital authorities did not make any statement till Sunday evening even as the matter triggered a political row. Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sukanta Majumdar, a Union minister of state, raised the same allegation after visiting the injured woman.
“I have come to know that the hospital authorities are under severe political pressure. That’s why they did not show the RG Kar victim’s mother as an admitted patient in their records,” Majumdar said.
The Trinamool Congress denied the charge.
“There was no pressure on the hospital from the government or any party. These are blatant lies. The hospital authorities did not even want to treat the woman saying it was not necessary but a senior BJP leader used his influence,” TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
“Why will policemen assault her? The police were there to protect the family. The woman fell on the road because a BJP leader with a shaved head pushed her aside to show his face on television channels,” Ghosh added.
Although Ghosh did not take any name, his allegation was pointed at BJP’s Kustav Bagchi who was escorting the couple during Saturday’s rally.
“Ghosh can make up any story he wants. The RG Kar victim’s parents are like my family. Ask them what happened,” Bagchi, who is also a high court lawyer, said.
“When a person with an unnatural injury is treated, it is mandatory for the hospital to inform the police. This was not done,” he added.
The injured woman’s husband, too, dismissed Ghosh’s allegation.
“Bagchi was walking with us. He went ahead of my wife to protect her. She was assaulted with batons by some female police personnel,” he said.
Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma visited the state-run SSKM Hospital to inquire about the condition of some police personnel who were allegedly assaulted by BJP workers on Saturday.
“It is regrettable that the RG Kar victim’s mother got injured. Whether they lodge a complaint or not, it is our duty to find out what happened. We are examining footage from all security cameras, surveillance drones and body cameras worn by policemen,” Verma said.
Seven first information reports (FIRs) were registered at two police police stations against several BJP leaders and MLAs including Agnimitra Paul and Ashok Dinda.
“If the victim’s mother can be beaten up it is nothing unnatural that the police will lodge false cases against us,” Paul said.
Thousands of citizens, workers of Left parties and BJP workers led by Suvendu Adhikari hit the streets of Kolkata on Saturday demanding justice for the post-graduate trainee doctor a year after her death.
Police stopped the rally to Nabanna, the state secretariat in Howrah district, citing a recent Calcutta high court order which said public property could not be damaged during any rally. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were clamped in the entire area around Nabanna, banning public assembly or rally in any form.
A spot near Santragachi bus stand in Howrah and Rani Rashmoni Avenue in Kolkata were earmarked for the rally but the crowd tried to break the steel barricades and move ahead. This triggered a clash.
A year ago, the body of the 31-year-old victim was found in the seminar room on the third floor of the emergency building of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the morning of August 9.
On August 10, the Kolkata Police arrested Sanjay Roy, a 34-year-old civic volunteer who worked for the city police. Amid a nation-wide furore, junior doctors at all state-run hospitals started an agitation accusing the state administration of shielding the real culprits.
On August 13, 2024, the Calcutta high court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the case from the Kolkata Police.
The parents of the victim have stuck to their allegation that Roy, who was sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of his natural life in January, was not the sole perpetrator of the crime.
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