Tens of thousands of women march in India after hospital intern raped and killed – BBC News

Tens of thousands of women marched through the streets of the Indian state of West Bengal on Wednesday night to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a public hospital in Kolkata last week.

The Reclaim the Night march was the result of nearly a week of protests that began after the murder of a 31-year-old woman last Friday.

After a grueling 36-hour shift, she fell asleep in the seminar room due to the lack of a designated rest area. The next morning, colleagues found her half-naked body with many injuries. Police said she was raped and murdered, and a volunteer police officer was later arrested in connection with the crime.

Earlier this week, many government hospitals in Indian cities suspended all services except emergency departments, and young doctors took to the streets in protest, demanding justice for the victim.

While the protests were largely peaceful, they were marred by clashes between the police and a small group of unidentified men who attacked the RG Kar hospital where the doctor was killed and vandalized the department. crisis

The police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several police cars were damaged during the accident.

Small protests were also held in many other Indian cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for strict punishment for crimes against women.

“As a society, we have to think about the atrocities that are being committed against our mothers, daughters and sisters. The country is angry about this. I feel this chaos,” Modi said on Thursday in an address to the nation on the occasion of another Independence Day.

“Crimes against women must be promptly investigated; Heinous behavior against women must be punished severely and swiftly,” he said.

The incident brought back memories of a similar incident in New Delhi in 2012, in which a group of men raped and seriously injured a 23-year-old student on a bus, ultimately leading to until her death.

“This horrific incident reminds us once again that women bear a disproportionate burden to keep themselves safe,” Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt wrote on her Instagram page, where more than She has 85 million followers.

Doctors in India’s overcrowded public hospitals have long complained that they are overworked and underpaid, and say not enough is being done to combat violence from patients. are dissatisfied with the care offered to them.

Crimes against women in India rose 4% in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released late last year.