Police remove barricades and allow junior doctors to go to Bentinck Street

Kolkata: Twenty-four hours after junior doctors began their march to Kolkata Police Headquarters Lalbazar demanding the resignation of Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, police on Tuesday removed the barricades and allowed the medical workers to march from BB Ganguly Road to Bentinck Road.

From there, some representatives of the junior doctors would be accompanied by senior officials of the Kolkata Police to Lalbazar, where they would probably meet Goyal. Police sources said that a huge team of policemen would form a human chain at the Bentinck Street junction.

“It will be a peaceful rally and we will march together till Bentinck Street. Our representatives will go to Lalbazar to meet the CP,” one of the protesting doctors told PTI.

Resident doctors from various medical colleges, who were holding a rally outside the Lalbazar police headquarters in Kolkata demanding the resignation of police commissioner Vineet Goyal, remained at the nearby BB Ganguly Road even on Tuesday, more than 23 hours after they were stopped from continuing their march.

The doctors, joined by several ordinary citizens and students from other educational institutions, spent the entire night on Monday on BB Ganguly Road, about half a kilometre from Lalbazar, to prevent the protesters from advancing further.

A large contingent of Calcutta police continued to stand guard on the other side of the barrier, which consisted of railings chained together and padlocked.

The junior doctors had placed a replica of a spine and red roses on the barrier. They claimed that the replica was intended to underline the police's duty to protect citizens.

“This was not our plan. We did not know that Kolkata police were so scared that they would put up a 10-foot-high barricade to stop us. Our protests will continue until we reach Lalbazar and are allowed to meet the police. Till then, we will sit here,” one of the protesting doctors told PTI.

They continued to shout slogans demanding justice and protection for everyone, including doctors.

Later, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IlI) of Kolkata Police, Santosh Pandey, along with other officers of the force, reached the accident spot and held talks with the doctors to pacify them.

The doctors began their march towards Lalbazar around 2 pm on Monday, holding placards bearing pictures of Goyal and texts demanding his resignation.

They also burnt a doll of the police commissioner after they were stopped on BB Ganguly Road.

They also shouted slogans demanding exemplary punishment for the perpetrators involved in the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The doctors allege that the police took inadequate action in their investigation into the rape and murder of the young doctor on August 9 before the Calcutta High Court handed over the investigation to the CBI.