Kolkata imposes 7-day ban amid protests over doctor’s rape-murder at RG-Kar Medical College and Hospital

The rape and murder of a trainee doctor has led to nationwide strikes by the medical fraternity. In an order released on Saturday by the Commissioner of Police, Vineet Kumar Goyal, it was stated that rallies, meetings, processions, dharnas, demonstrations, and the unlawful assembly of five or more persons are prohibited in the specified area of Kolkata. The order was issued under the power conferred by Sub-Section (1) of Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, read with Sub-Section (3) of the said Section, by Vineet Kumar Goyal, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, acting as an Executive Magistrate for the Metropolitan area of Kolkata as well as the district of South 24 Parganas within the limits of the suburbs of Kolkata falling under Kolkata police jurisdiction. The prohibition is for a period of seven (7) days from 18.08.2024 to 24.08.2024 or until further notice.

The order was imposed based on inputs and information received from credible sources, indicating sufficient reasons for violent demonstrations, rallies, and meetings by a section of the public or an organisation. This is causing a breach of peace, disturbance of public tranquillity, health or safety, danger to human life, and obstruction to doctors, nursing staff, medical staff, and lawfully employed persons in the specified area in the town of Kolkata. On 9 August, a postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, leading to nationwide strikes by the medical fraternity. On Wednesday, the protest ground and the hospital campus at RG Kar were vandalised by a mob, forcing security personnel to disperse the crowd.