Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the alleged attempt to save the accused in the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder of a junior doctor instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions on the hospital and the local administration.

Two days after a statement by his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, and several by senior leaders of the party, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha issued a statement in Hindi on X.

“The whole nation is stunned into silence by the ghastly incident of rape and murder of a junior doctor in Calcutta. With layer after layer of the cruel and inhuman act against her being revealed, there is an atmosphere of insecurity among the doctors’ community and women,” Rahul wrote.

“The attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises
serious questions on the hospital and the local administration,” said Rahul, whose party’s state unit, led by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s bete noire Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, protested in the city against the Trinamool Congress dispensation and met governor C.V. Ananda Bose.

Hours later, Mamata mounted a belligerent counteroffensive, following days of intense attacks from the state’s Opposition over the rape and murder of the junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital, headlined with the question: “What more could we have done?”

At an event in Behala in south Calcutta, a visibly displeased Mamata said: “Do as much politics as you want, but don’t politicise death. Stand by the family of the victim and express your condolences. Make sure this social evil is defeated.... I even ask the Congress, you have governments in various states, what have you people done there?

“The (state’s) Opposition loves to insult me because I am a soft target, who works for all. I don’t expect anything from the BJP, the CPM, the far-Left or even the Congress. But I hope they don’t defame Bengal or insult Bangla Ma,” she added.

The statement from Rahul, whose party finds itself in a precarious position of being
at daggers drawn in Bengal with Mamata’s party while being bedfellows nationally in the INDIA space, followed questions over his silence from the BJP.

“This incident has compelled us to consider that if doctors are not safe in a place like a medical college, how then could guardians send their daughters outside for studies? Why are even the strict legislations enacted after the Nirbhaya case failing to prevent such crimes?” he asked.

Rahul drew parallels between the Calcutta incident and macabre crimes against women in areas of BJP influence.

“Every party, every section of the society must conduct serious discussions and take concrete steps on the continuously increasing incidents against women, from Hathras to Unnao, Kathua to Calcutta,” he wrote.

Rahul pledged his support to the victim’s family and demanded justice. “They should get justice at all costs and the culprits should be given exemplary punishment,” he said.