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Indian-origin female doctors in Britain on Wednesday expressed solidarity with protests in India demanding justice for a postgraduate intern who was allegedly raped and murdered in West Bengal.
There is immense anger and sadness among these Indian-origin doctors, many of whom trained in India, and they have demanded immediate action into the alleged rape and murder of the young woman in Kolkata.
The body of a post-graduate trainee doctor with severe injury marks was found in the seminar hall of the thoracic department of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Friday. The preliminary post-mortem report revealed that she had been subjected to a violent sexual assault, triggering massive protests by the medical and non-medical fraternity in the state and elsewhere.
A civic volunteer has been arrested in connection with the case, while junior doctors and healthcare workers across India are concerned about their safety and many of them in West Bengal continue to strike work.
Dr Dipti Jain, a Brighton-based National Health Service (NHS) geriatrician who trained as a medical graduate at a Kolkata hospital, said she was horrified since last week’s incident and had been receiving a steady stream of messages from the medical fraternity.
Jain said, “We have worked fearlessly in those places 30 years ago when the shield of white clinical apron was like ‘Laxman Rekha’ and everyone used to call us ‘Doctor Didi’. How did the attitude change so much that now no place is considered safe for children and women?”
As head of the Pan UK South Asian Doctors and president of the Medicos Women charity, she is coordinating messages from her Indian-origin colleagues around the world, including the US, Canada and the UAE.
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He said, “We stand in solidarity with our fraternity. Justice delayed is justice denied, this is the collective slogan of us doctors.”
Dr Gauri Batra, a consultant paediatrician and perinatal pathologist based in Manchester, said: “We too were once hardworking young doctors trying to establish ourselves and advance ourselves. But not at the price that a young doctor paid on that horrific night… Our emotions have no limits, we weep at what is happening and on the eve of the 78th year of independence of our young and dynamic country.”
“I have spent so many nights ‘alone’ at the hospital while I was on call or gone home ‘alone’ in the deepest, darkest hours of the night, but never felt unsafe,” said Dr. Sonela Basak, who lives in Cambridge.
“Our physician community in California stands firmly against all forms of violence, and we are determined to honor the memory of our colleagues by creating an environment of safety and support for all,” said US-based Dr Salma Khan.
“We will not rest until justice is served and our community is safe from such senseless violence,” Khan said.
Dr Jain said these doctors of Indian origin, many of whom have trained in India, have expressed immense anger and sadness in their messages demanding immediate action.
After the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered transfer of investigation into the case from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, two officers of the central agency went to Tala police station in Kolkata and took possession of the relevant documents.
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