New Delhi:

Popular singer Arijit Singh refused to sing at a UK concert a song he composed in the aftermath of the rape-murder of a doctor in Kolkata. The song ‘Aar Kobe’ has emerged as an anthem of sorts amid massive protests over the doctor’s rape-murder at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month.

While on stage, someone from the crowd requested Mr Singh to sing ‘Aar Kobe’. “This is not the place. People haven’t come here to protest. They have come here to listen to me. That’s my job. And what you are saying is my heart. This is not the right time and place,” the singer is heard saying in a video that has emerged on social media.

“If you really feel about it, go to Kolkata. Gather some people, a lot of Bengalis are here, go, on the street,” he added, before returning to the ‘Ramta Jogi’ song from 1999 movie Taal.

The singer paused again and added, “That song (Aar Kobe) is not monetised. It will never be monetised. Anybody can use it.”

Arijit Singh recorded the song, Aar Kobe, in the wake of the August 9 Kolkata rape-murder incident that has shaken the nation. Aar Kobe, which translates to “if not now, then when” calls upon people to join the fight for women’s safety and dignity.

Within three weeks of its release, the Bengali song has already garnered more than 2 millions views on YouTube.

“Let this song add to the chorus of dissent. May it be a voice of hope, a plea for justice, and a catalyst for change. Together, we can try to ensure that such tragedies never happen again,” the singer’s official YouTube channel has said in its descriptor for the song.

Kolkata:

Junior doctors protesting in Kolkata against the rape-murder of a 31-year-old medico at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital said late last night that they will continue their ‘cease work’ agitation till the Mamata Banerjee government fulfills all their demands. They have said they will reach out to the state government for more discussions on the demands yet to be fulfilled.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front said in a statement that many attempts were made to malign their movement. “Due to our movement’s pressure, the state government was forced to remove the Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner North, Director of Health Services and Director of Medical Education. This is a partial victory of our movement,” they said.

The doctors said that in their meeting with Chief Minister Banerjee on Monday, there was no decision on their demand to remove the Principal Secretary (Health). “The Chief Minister gave us a verbal assurance, but we have not seen any step in the direction so far.”

The doctors’ body also flagged the Supreme Court’s observations on the Bengal government’s notification that said state-run hospitals would avoid giving night shifts to women doctors. The doctors said it is not possible to provide security to women by creating a gender divide. Following the court’s observations that it is the state’s duty to provide security, the Bengal government’s counsel Kapil Sibal said the notification will be tweaked. The doctors also pointed to the court’s remarks on contractual staff being roped in to provide security at hospitals.

The doctors’ body has said that merely beefing up security at hospitals will not ensure the safety of doctors till health services are improved. It has pressed for adequate recruitment of healthcare staff and counselling services at hospitals. “Ordinary people face problems due to corruption in the allotment of hospital beds, and shortage of life-saving drugs. We want a solution to all these problems,” the doctors’ forum said.

The junior doctors said that during their meeting with the Chief Minister, they had demanded a college-level task force to address these problems. “We think more discussions are needed. It is not clear how these demands will be fulfilled.”

They have also underlined their demand for an end to the “politics of fear” in medical colleges and democratic student union elections. “The Chief Minister announced from our protest site that patient welfare committees will be dissolved, but we got nothing in writing and there is no clarity on how these committees will be set up again.”

The doctors’ body said that it wants the government to hold discussions and fulfill the demands. “We want to return to work,” the junior doctors said.

West Bengal:

The mother of the trainee doctor from Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College has accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of lying about not offering financial compensation.

On Monday, she refuted the CM’s claim, stating that Mamata Banerjee did offer money following her daughter’s tragic death.

“The Chief Minister is lying. My daughter will not return. Would I lie in her name? The Chief Minister told us that we would receive money and suggested that we create something in our daughter’s memory. I responded that I would come to her office to collect the money once my daughter gets justice,” the victim’s mother told ANI.

Earlier today, CM Mamata Banerjee denied offering any money to the family of the trainee doctor, who was raped and murdered in Kolkata.

“I have never offered money to the doctor’s family. This is nothing but slander. I only told the doctor’s parents that if they wished to do something in their daughter’s memory, our government would support them. Kolkata Commissioner of Police, Vineet Goyal, offered to resign following the RG Kar protests, but we need someone knowledgeable in law and order as Durga Puja approaches,” she said.

The victim’s cousin also said that the Chief Minister personally offered financial compensation to the family. “The Chief Minister herself offered financial compensation. She denied that money was offered by the police. I’m still saying with responsibility that the Chief Minister offered money,” the cousin said.

CM Mamata Banerjee also encouraged people to “return to festivities” as Durga Puja nears and urged junior doctors to resume their duties as soon as possible.

In response, the victim’s mother expressed that this request seemed inhuman to her.

“Durga Puja is celebrated in my house too; my daughter used to handle it herself. But Durga Puja will never be celebrated in my house again. The light in my home is out. How can I ask people to return to the festival?” she said.

She further questioned, “If such an incident had happened in the Chief Minister’s family, would she have said this?”

The victim’s mother also asserted that they would continue their movement until justice is served.

The second-year postgraduate medical student was raped and murdered inside the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College on August 9.

On Monday, the Supreme Court reminded the authorities that no action should be taken against doctors who return to work by tomorrow at 5 pm while hearing the case related to the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

However, the court noted that if the doctors fail to do so, the court will not be able to restrain the state government, and further absence from work might lead to disciplinary action against them.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

Countering the BJP’s attack over the rape-murder of a doctor in a Kolkata hospital, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today questioned the progress in the CBI’s investigation into the sensitive case and questioned “where is justice”.

Addressing a public event to mark the foundation day of Trinamool Congress’s students’ wing, the Chief Minister said she met the victim’s parents two days after she was found dead on duty in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. “I asked for five days’ time, but the case was sent to the CBI. They don’t want justice. They want delay. It has been 16 days, where is justice?” she asked. The Chief Minister said the state government will call for an Assembly session and introduced a Bill demanding death penalty for rapists.

The Trinamool leader tore into the BJP over the march to state secretariat Nabanna yesterday that led to chaotic scenes on Kolkata streets. While the organisers had said the march was planned by student organisations, the Trinamool alleged that it was a BJP-ABVP conspiracy to create unrest. 

Over 200 people were taken into custody as police used teargas shells, water cannons and batons to disperse protesters. The BJP called a 12-hour bandh today to protest against the police action.

“BJP has called a bandh because they want dead bodies. We want justice and death by hanging for the accused. They (BJP) have moved away from the goal of demanding justice for the victim. Now they are defaming Bengal. The BJP is shameless. They are indulging in a conspiracy,” she said.

The Chief Minister also had words of praise for the city police. “I want to salute the police that despite coming under attack, they did not fall into the trap and prevented deaths.”

Speaking at the event earlier, Trinamool general secretary and Ms Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee said the party will move a private members’ Bill for an anti-rape law if Centre doesn’t take steps on this front. “An unfortunate incident has happened and entire India is demanding justice, but some people are playing dead body politics over it. They are responsible for cases in Unnao, Hathras, Kathua and Badlapur. There should be a time bound trial and convictions in rape cases, and this should be set in law,” he said.

He also questioned why the CBI has not yet arrested Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who has come under the scanner for handling of the incident and corruption allegations.

Bengal Failed To Implement Schemes To Tackle Crimes Against Women: Minister

As Trinamool Congress targets the Centre and demands tougher laws for women’s safety, Union Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi has said the Bengal government has failed to implement schemes to deal with crimes against women.

It is ironic that Bengal is the only state in the country with a woman chief minister and still the situation of women there is deteriorating, the minister told PTI .

“There are states like West Bengal where we are trying to get the central government schemes implemented but it is not happening. There are central government schemes, such as fast track special courts and POCSO courts, that have been established to deal with crimes against women and children but the state (West Bengal) is lagging behind in it,” she said.

Kolkata:

Four colleagues of the 31-year-old doctor, who was raped and murdered in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, will be put through the lie-detector test because their statements are contradicting each other, sources from CBI have said. These include two first-year postgraduate trainees, a house surgeon and an intern.

Sources in the central agency have said that it doesn’t appear that the four doctors were involved in crime, but it wants to check if they played a role in tampering with evidence or were part of a conspiracy. The investigators have also pieced together the sequence of events the night before the doctor was sexually assaulted and killed. 

According to Kolkata Police’s timeline of events, one of these doctors saw the victim’s body in the seminar hall around 9.30 am the next day and alerted the authorities. All these four doctors had been questioned by the city police before CBI took over the probe, the timeline reveals.

What Has CBI Found?

The CBI has found fingerprints of two of these four doctors in the third-floor seminar room where the body was found. A CCTV camera had captured the house surgeon going from first floor to the third floor that night. The house surgeon has said that he went to the third floor at 2.45 am that night. The intern was on the third floor and had spoken to the victim that night, the CBI has found.

What Happened That Night

According to the sources, the victim and two first-year postgraduate trainees had dinner around midnight. Then they went to the seminar room and watched Neeraj Chopra’s javelin event at the Olympics. Around 2 am, the two colleagues went to the sleep room where doctors on duty rested. The victim stayed back in the seminar room. The intern has said that he was in the interns’ room. All these three rooms — the seminar hall, the sleep and the interns’ room are located close to each other on the third floor.

The Morning After

Around 9.30 am, one of the postgraduate trainee doctors, with whom the victim had dinner the night before, went to look for her before the ward rounds began. He found “her body in motionless state from a distance”, the Kolkata Police timeline says. He then informed his colleagues and senior doctors who alerted hospital authorities.

The Lie-Detector Test

The CBI has got permission for conducting the lie-detector test on the four doctors and Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who has drawn fire for his handling of the situation. A special court gave the go-ahead for this yesterday. Lie detector test can only be conducted after a permission from the court and the consent of the suspect.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today said the delay in filing the FIR in the Kolkata doctor’s rape-murder case cannot be justified and again questioned the role of Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who has come under the lens in the aftermath of the incident.

Responding to West Bengal government counsel Kapil Sibal’s submission that Kolkata Police followed the procedure to a tee, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “Procedure is a separate issue, but the point remains. What is the reason the FIR is lodged almost 14 hours after the discovery of the (body). The most important thing is that the principal of the college should have come straightaway to the college and directed the filing of the FIR. Who was he in touch with?”

“The moment he tenders the resignation, he is appointed as principal of another college” the Chief Justice asked. Mr Sibal said the state will respond to this matter separately.

The CBI and Kolkata Police submitted separate status reports to the Supreme Court today. The central agency’s submission related to the probe into the 31-year-old doctor’s rape and murder, while the city police provided an update on the investigation into the mob vandalism at the Kolkata hospital in the early hours of August 15.

Mr Sibal also sought protection for the state government so that it can tackle future protests. To this, the Chief Justice asked, “How can we protect the State?” Mr Sibal then cited the court’s earlier direction that the state will not take coercive action on peaceful protests. “We have not for a moment said that the requisite provisions of laws should not be complied with. What we meant was stop arresting people who are…,” the Chief Justice replied.

The bench clarified that that while the court had permitted peaceful protests, it should not be misconstrued to mean that State cannot lawfully use its power. “However, we categorically reaffirm that peaceful protests shall not be disturbed and disrupted and the State shall not take any action against those peacefully protesting against the incident which took place in RG Kar Hospital,” the bench said.

The bench, also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, posted the next hearing for September 5.

The court is hearing a bench of petitions relating to the chilling rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the state-run hospital. The victim, a postgraduate trainee doctor, was found dead in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9. Medical examination confirmed rape.

Kolkata Police arrested an accused, a civic volunteer named Sanjoy Roy, a day after the incident. However, days later, the Calcutta High Court transferred the case to the CBI, noting no significant progress in the city police’s probe. The CBI is yet to make any arrest in the case.

New Delhi:
The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) at the AIIMS Delhi will today provide elective OPD services outside the Nirman Bhawan, which houses the Union health ministry amid protests over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata on August 9.

Here Are Top Points On Doctors’ Strike: