Junior doctors will march to the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar on Monday afternoon to demand the resignation of Vineet Goyal as the Kolkata Police commissioner. The details of the event:
Organisers: The march is being organised by the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF).
Time: 2pm
Route: College Square-Mahatma Gandhi Road-Central Avenue-BB Ganguly Street-Lalbazar Street
Possible traffic diversions: South-bound traffic can be diverted through the Central Avenue-Vivekananda Road crossing. North-bound traffic can be diverted through Ganesh Chandra Avenue, officers in the traffic department said.
Doctors’ demands: Kolkata Police, the protesting doctors are saying, failed to prevent the mob attack on RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the eve of Independence Day. Since Goyal heads the force, the doctors are demanding his resignation.
“Also, our doubts about the probe by Kolkata Police into the rape and murder of our colleague have been vindicated by comments of the CBI lawyer at the Supreme Court. The CBI counsel said the crime scene had altered by the time the agency had taken over the probe. The police commissioner has to take responsibility for that, too,” a junior doctor said.
The police, however, have said the crime scene having been altered is not the same as evidence having been tampered with.
The protesting doctors are also demanding that the health department suspend former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh, arrest of everyone involved in the rape and murder of the 31-year-old doctor and the end of the threat culture at medical colleges.
Who will participate: Mostly junior doctors from government medical colleges. The protesting doctors, however, have announced that anyone can join the march.
Police arrangements: An elaborate police arrangement has been made along the rally route. Deputy commissioners will escort the junior doctors to Lalbazar. A senior police officer said: “There will be adequate police presence along the route. We are expecting the march to be peaceful.”
Doctors say ‘no vandalism’: Junior doctors said they will not break any police cordon and will march till the point the police will allow them to. “We will stop wherever the police put up barricades. From there, a delegation will go to Lalbazar and try to meet the commissioner of police,” said a WBJDF member. “We will not break any barricades.”
Expected turnout: Around 1,000, going by the estimates of the junior doctors. The police said more could join the march.