Kolkata rape and murder case: Resident doctors stay overnight in Bowbazar after police block march to Lalbazar | Kolkata News

KOLKATA: The Assistant Doctors marched to Lalbazar on Monday with roses and a replica of a human spine and demanded the resignation of Calcutta Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal. The protest continued late into the night as the doctors demanded to meet Goyal at the protest site in BB Ganguly itself if they were not allowed to march to Lalbazar.
As the rally approached Lalbazar in the afternoon, the junior doctors were stopped at the BB Ganguly Street-Phears Lane junction. They demanded that the police remove the barricade and let them march to Lalbazar. They assured the police that they would end their rally outside the police headquarters and only the representatives would meet the police commissioner. When the police reportedly refused to remove the barricade, the junior doctors squatted on the road and demanded that Goyal visit the protest site. Till the latest reports came in, they stuck to their demand to meet the police commissioner.
At the invitation of the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front (WBJDF), doctors from all medical colleges began their Lalbazar Abjijan at College Square on Monday afternoon. They accused the police of “botching” the investigation from day one. The police were also accused of not doing enough to prevent the vandalism at RG Kar Hospital on the evening of August 14.

“Where were the police when a mob attacked us on the night of August 14? Now they are stopping our peaceful march,” said a junior doctor.
The police began preparations for Monday's march on Sunday morning. Several trucks carried the 9-foot-high crash barriers that had been erected on BB Ganguly Street to stop the protesters. Security was also beefed up outside the police headquarters in Lalbazar. The work of erecting the crash barriers began early on Monday morning. Additional forces from various divisions arrived around 9 am. More than 500 personnel were deployed on BB Ganguly Street.
To stop the procession, police officers set up the first barricade at the CR Avenue-BB Ganguly Street junction. Several senior officers were stationed behind the barricade. The second barricade was set up at the BB Ganguly Street junction and the third barricade – with high railings – a few metres behind the second barricade. Rapid Action Force personnel and reserve troops were deployed in the lanes and bylanes off BB Ganguly Street. A massive force stopped the protesters on BB Ganguly Street.
The fact that the protesting doctors were planning a strictly non-political action became clear when BJP MP and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly was booed when he tried to express his solidarity with the movement at around 9.15 p.m.
Amid the war of words with the police, the doctors erupted in jubilation when they heard about the arrest of Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College.