Nationwide strike over rape and murder of doctor

In India, doctors have begun a nationwide strike, intensifying their protest against the rape and murder of a colleague in the West Bengal city of Calcutta.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country's largest doctors' association, said all non-essential hospital services would be suspended across the country on Saturday.

The IMA described last week's murder as a “crime of barbaric proportions due to the lack of safe spaces for women” and asked the country for support in its “fight for justice”.

Protests against the attack and calls for better protection for women have intensified in recent days after a mob vandalized the hospital where the attack occurred.

The IMA said in a statement that emergency and accident services would continue and that the strike would last 24 hours.

The association's president, RV Asokan, told the BBC that doctors have been suffering and protesting against the violence for years, but this incident was “qualitatively different”.

If such a crime could happen at a medical school in a big city, it shows “that doctors are not safe everywhere,” he said.

Doctors at some state hospitals announced earlier this week that they would suspend elective surgeries indefinitely.

The IMA also published a list of demands, including tightening the law to better protect medical personnel from violence, increasing security measures in hospitals and creating safe rest rooms.

It called for a “careful and professional investigation” into the murder and the prosecution of those involved in the vandalism, as well as compensation for the woman’s family.

The rape of the 31-year-old doctor in training has shocked the country.

Her half-naked body with severe injuries was discovered in a seminar room of RG Kar Medical College last week after she reportedly went there to rest during her shift.

A volunteer who worked at the hospital was arrested in connection with the crime.

After criticism of a lack of progress, the case was handed over by local police to India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Since the woman's death, other rape cases have made headlines in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi declaring that “monstrous behaviour towards women must be punished severely and swiftly”.

The woman's rape and murder sparked a political blame game in West Bengal: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the ruling Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) of orchestrating the attack.

The TMC denied the allegations and blamed “political outsiders” for fuelling the violence.

Tens of thousands of women across West Bengal took part in the Reclaim the Night march on Wednesday evening to demand “independence to live in freedom and without fear”.

Although the protests were largely peaceful, there were clashes between police and a small group of unidentified men who entered RG Kar Hospital – the scene of the crime – and vandalised the emergency room.

At least 25 people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Protests also took place in many other Indian cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

“It feels like hope is being rekindled,” one protester, Sumita Datta, told AFP as thousands of people marched through the streets of Calcutta on Friday.