The head of the rally had reached the Wipro crossing in Salt Lake while the tail was still two kilometres away at Mayukh Bhavan.
The call for a mega rally by the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front had thousands walking and raising thunderous slogans in support of the junior doctors and demanding justice for the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital who was raped and murdered on August 9.
The roads had been covered by a sea of umbrella as people braved the rain and walked.
A large banner with the slogan Aarji Noy, Dabi Kor (Do not appeal, but demand) at the front of the rally set its tone.
Besides the protesting junior doctors, people from various professions also joined the march. The junior doctors’ front gave a call for the rally late on Saturday and thousands had responded within such a short time.
“We are thankful to common people that so many of them came here today within such a short time. Please stay with and support us,” said a junior doctor.
The rally began around 5.15pm and reached Swasthya Bhavan about an hour later.
People had started to gather around Central Park from 3.30pm.
When the rally reached the protest site outside Swasthya Bhavan, the protest venue had to cordoned off.
The huge mass that walked was thanked for joining the rally and requested to leave for the day.
“We are sorry we cannot let you come near. This space is not adequate for so many people. You can keep coming back to support us,” a voice was hearing telling those who marched.
A sea of people armed with umbrellas descended on the streets in Salt Lake. They braved the rain and marched on. Many senior doctors had also joined the rally.
“When our fear dies their audacity dies. I am here to prove that people are not scared to support the right cause. The authorities of any state or country have power. Many in authoritarian positions think that it is right to use their position of power to manipulate things. And this was exactly what was done in this incident where a doctor was brutally raped and killed inside her own workplace,” said Debosmita Mitra, an advocate from New Town who walked in the rally.
“Although rapes and crimes against women are not something that we are unaware of but this heinous incident has shaken our collective conscience compounded by the fact that authorities had tried to create a smokescreen to prevent the real truth from coming out. It is not clear to us why a meeting cannot be recorded or live-streamed and it is surprising that the chief minister and other top officials refused to have the meeting even after the junior doctors agreed to have the minutes of the meeting recorded and handed over to them,” said Mitra.
Prodosh Bhattacharya, a research scholar who came from south Calcutta, said: “The five-point demand raised by the junior doctors has to be carried forward by
common citizens. It has now transformed into a citizens’ movement....”
The Indian Medical Association Bengal chapter and the Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD) supported the rally.