The Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD), an organisation of senior doctors, on Sunday wrote to the commissioner of Kolkata Police seeking permission to set up a dais at the Dorina crossing in Esplanade for a “sit-in demonstration” between December 17 and 26.
The sit-in will press for two demands.
One of the demands is that the CBI submit a supplementary chargesheet against former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh and former Tala police station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mandal in the rape and murder case.
The other demand is that the state government give concurrence to prosecute Ghosh and former RG Kar house staff Ashis Pandey in a case related to alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The Sealdah court has yet to take cognisance of a chargesheet filed by the CBI in the
case because the state’s concurrence is pending.
It was on Ghosh’s watch that a 31-year-old doctor was raped and murdered at RG Kar on August 9. Mandal was then the officer-in-charge of Tala police station.
Both have been accused of tampering with evidence and being involved in a conspiracy in the rape and murder case.
The letter seeking permission to set up the dais was emailed to Manoj Verma, the commissioner of Kolkata Police, on Sunday.
“We sent the mail on Sunday. We will wait till Monday for a response. If the police do not respond by then, we will assume that they have no objection to setting up the dais at the Dorina crossing for the protest. If the police want to deny us permission, they have to say that in their reply to our mail,” said Utpal Bandyopadhyay, a member of the JPD.
“We will approach the high court if the police deny us our right to protest. It will be a peaceful protest.”
A senior officer of Kolkata Police did not respond to calls from The Telegraph on Sunday evening.
A source at Lalbazar said: “Since today is a Sunday, no decision has been taken on the matter.”
When asked why they are choosing the busy Dorina crossing, Bandyopadhyay said: “The place is accessible to most people. It will enable us to take our demands to more people. A protest grows only when more people join it.”
If required, he said, the doctors will go to the CBI office to demand a supplementary chargesheet against Ghosh and Mandal.
The two got bail in the rape-and-murder case on Friday as the CBI did not submit a supplementary chargesheet against them. The first chargesheet names only one accused — Sanjay Roy.
The bail has triggered a furore among doctors and others, with many blaming the CBI for their “failure” in handling the case properly.
The JPD’s letter to the police commissioner mentioned that the “temporary” dais would be built “without interrupting traffic movement”.
