Kolkata doctor rape case: Family levels new allegations, Mamata ’miserably failed’, says NCW: What happened today?

The father of the deceased doctor in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-death case on Friday said he gathered more courage as “crores of children” were standing with him. He said, “All those protesting on the streets are like my son and daughter…I lost my daughter, but crores of children are standing with me now, and this gave me more courage.”

He claimed that his daughter had to “face some problems in college and therefore…the entire department is a suspect…”

Meanwhile, National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for holding a protest march. In a report, the Commission revealed lapses in security, infrastructure, and the investigation surrounding the rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run hospital in Kolkata.

The trainee doctor, 31, was found dead, reportedly in a half-naked condition, in the seminar hall of Kolkata’s RG Kar College and Hospital on August 9. An autopsy report and police suggested that she was raped and killed.

Here are the top developments in the Kolkata doctor rape case you need to know:

1. The father of the victim said the entire department was a suspect. He was quoted by ANI as saying, “My daughter left for duty at around 8:10 am on that day. She was on OPD and last spoke to her mother at around 11:15 pm. In the morning, when my wife was calling her, her phone was ringing, but no one picked up; by that time, my daughter died. The matter of concern is that from 3 am to 10 am, nobody needed her, despite she was an on-duty doctor.”

2. Meanwhile, PTI news reported that the parents of the deceased doctor told the CBI that several interns and physicians from the hospital might be involved in the crime. The report quoted an officer as saying, “The parents told us that they suspect the involvement of multiple persons behind the sexual assault and murder of their daughter. They have given names of a few interns and doctors who worked with her at the hospital.”

3. The NCW’s inquiry revealed that no security guards were present during the incident, leaving on-call interns, doctors, and nurses without sufficient protection during night shifts. The NCW had earlier taken a suo moto cognizance and formed an Inquiry Committee to “inquire about the circumstances…and recommend measures to prevent such incidents in the future”.

Now, news agency PTI reported that the committee’s preliminary findings revealed alarming lapses in the hospital’s security and infrastructure. 

The inquiry also highlighted serious concerns regarding the investigation. The questioning of the former principal, who resigned after the incident, remains incomplete, the NCW said in its preliminary report, according to PTI.

4. Amid such claims, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal accepted “a failure of assessment” when mass rallies were organised in Kolkata and a mob vandalised RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

“If you look at it that we should have anticipated that there would be 5,000 or 10,000 here…If you say it is a failure of assessment, then yes, you can call it a failure of assessment…This entire protest was supposed to have been a very peaceful protest. That is my understanding… There was no such intelligence…,” Goyal said.

5. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee took out a rally to condemn the rape and murder of the woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. She demanded justice for the victim and capital punishment for the accused.

6. NCW chief Rekha Sharma hit out at the CM and demanded her resignation. Sharma said, “When a CM resort to Dharna Pradarsh in her own state that means she is letting people know that she can’t do anything to make things better. It also means she is diverting people’s attention to slogans from the real issue and her own failure.(sic)”

“If Mamata Banerjee really loves people of Bengal, she should resign immediately. Time and again she has proved that she miserably failed to give safety and security to women of Bengal,” Sharma posted on X.

7. A junior doctor of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital put forth the demands of the protesting doctors. She said, “Our primary demand is the arrest of the culprits with proper evidence with an official press release confirming the same from the CBI.”

Among other demands were a written apology and an order of resignation from higher RG Kar authorities.

“We previously stated that no amount of compensation can be made for a life lost. However, her parents should be provided with lifelong support and adequate financial compensation by the government and it should be announced immediately,” she said.

8. BJP leader and former Union minister Smriti Irani said, “Without a doubt, when she was being raped, that woman was enduring immense cruelty. But the question that arises here is this: did no one on that floor hear the woman’s screams?… Was this just the act of a single rapist? Is it possible that the rapist was committing such atrocities against the woman, yet no one heard her cries? Who is the person because of whom the rapist felt assured in the hospital that he could commit the rape and then go home without any fear?”

9. The Kolkata Police said it is wrong that 150 grams of semen was found in her body. Meanwhile, TMC MP Mahua Moitra explained and said 150 gms was the total weight of the internal viscera of the reproductive organs.

“…there is a figure of 150 grams of bodily fluids being floated around by the media…In any autopsy or post-mortem, the weight and situation of each particular organ is commented upon, like the liver, the heart. Similarly in this case …the total weight of the inner and outer genitalia was something close to 150 grams… bodily fluids are measured in millilitres, not in grams,” she said. “It has nothing to do with any amount of bodily fluids found,” the TMC MP added.

10. The Kolkata Police said on Friday, “As of now, we have made 25 arrests in relation to the vandalism at RG Kar Hospital on Wednesday night. Four more suspects were identified by netizens from our social media posts. The search for the remaining suspects is ongoing. Thank you once again for your support.”