The protesting junior doctors on Tuesday defied the 5pm deadline set by the Supreme Court to resume duties and also an invitation from the state government for a dialogue with chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata waited at Nabanna till 7.30pm to meet a delegation of the doctors, said Chandrima Bhattacharya, the state’s junior health minister. The email invitation was sent by health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam at 6.10pm.

The junior doctors, on cease-work since August 9 to protest the rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, marched to Swasthya Bhavan on Tuesday afternoon after gathering at Salt Lake Karunamoyee. They squatted on the road outside the headquarters of the state health department after police stopped the rally from going ahead.

The doctors said they would continue their sit-in outside Swasthya Bhavan until their demands were met. Till late on Tuesday night, hundreds of junior doctors were sitting in front of Swasthya Bhavan.

Mamata has asked her cabinet colleagues to refrain from commenting on the RG Kar rape and murder or any development related to the incident. The chief minister’s instruction came during a cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Tuesday.

“The chief minister told the ministers that nobody should make any comment on the RG Kar incident. If required, the chief minister herself would comment on the issue,” said a minister who was present at the meeting.

Sources also said that the ministers were asked to focus on their areas and development projects.

The email from the health secretary was addressed to the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front. Bhattacharya said at Nabanna in the evening that the chief minister was waiting for a dialogue with the protesters.

“The doctors have not withdrawn the cease-work,” she said. “The state government has always supported the reason behind the protest, but the chief minister has been saying that the services for poor patients should not be impacted and she has been requesting doctors to resume work. The Supreme Court gave this order yesterday (Monday),” said Bhattacharya.

“After 5pm, the administration had sent messages to the protesting doctors that they could come and have a dialogue with the supreme leader of the government. Ten persons were invited,” Bhattacharya said.

“The principal secretary sent the email at 6.10pm. Now it is 7.30pm. The chief minister waited at her chamber in Nabanna till 7.30pm.... Till now no response has come from the protesting doctors.... We have not received any email response either. The chief minister left just now after waiting till 7.30,” she said.

“We are again saying that their (doctors’) work is related to providing services to patients. Common people should not be facing trouble. We are again requesting that they resume duties,” the junior health minister added.

Around the same time when Bhattacharya was briefing about the developments, the junior doctors addressed a news conference on the road outside Swasthya Bhavan.

“We received an email inviting a small delegation to Nabanna. It was written, within brackets, that not more than 10 persons could go. We have been saying that the government should send a positive message regarding our five demands. We do not consider this email that came from the health secretary as something positive. Words like ‘small delegation’, ‘not more than ten’, are insulting,” said Debasish Halder, one of the protesting junior doctors.

“We want to say that we are open to a dialogue, but the words used, the way this email came from the health secretary is insulting for us. We are not in a position to respond to this email,” Halder added. “If the state government sends a positive message, if we receive a positive message from the higher-ups about a solution, we will discuss among ourselves and take a decision,” said Halder. “The email started with ‘Respected Sir’, but we want to say that this protest is not only by sirs but many madams are also here,” he said.

Halder then went on to add that till such a positive feeler came, the junior doctors would continue their cease-work. “We are sitting in the demonstration. We will sit here like this,” he added.

The junior doctors said they gave the state government time till 5pm to meet their five demands, one of which — resignations of the health secretary, director of medical education and director of health services — cropped up late on Monday.

“Had they fulfilled our demands, we would have gone back to work,” said Aniket Mahato, a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The five demands put forth by the protesting doctors were:

◉ Identification of all culprits and their arrest. A clear word on the motive of the crime

◉ Resignation of Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal

◉ Disciplinary action against former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh

◉ Ensuring the safety of doctors and all healthcare workers. End of the reign of fear at medical colleges

◉ Resignation of the health secretary, director of medical education and the director of health services

The Supreme Court had told the counsel for the protesting doctors during a hearing on Monday that the junior medics “must” resume duties by 5pm on Tuesday. The junior doctors marching to Swasthya Bhavan had indicated that they might not return to work if their demands were not met. As the clock crossed 5pm, they confirmed that they were not going back to work.