Under pressure, Kolkata Police lift barricades to allow junior doctors to march ahead

Nearly 24 hours after junior doctors began a sit-in demonstration after being prevented by the cops from marching towards the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar demanding the resignation of Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal, the police authorities on Tuesday afternoon finally succumbed to the pressure of the agitators and allowed them to proceed by removing the barricades put up on B.B. Ganguly Street in Central Kolkata.

At around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, the tall barricades set up to prevent the protesters -- who were also joined by the common people -- from marching forward were lifted, allowing the agitators to proceed further towards the next barricade just near the entry gate of the city police headquarters.

From the next point, a delegation of 22 protesters from the medical fraternity will go inside the police headquarters and handover a memorandum to Commissioner Goyal seeking his resignation.

The junior doctors, who have been receiving a lot of support from the common people and the student community alike, have accused the police of taking inadequate measures during its probe into the ghastly rape and murder of a trainee doctor whose body was found in the seminar hall of the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on the morning of August 9.

The Calcutta High Court later handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"It is our moral victory. We had said that we will continue with our sit-in demonstration for an indefinite period. As junior doctors, we are used to long duty hours for 24-36 hours," said a protester.

The agitators spent the entire Monday night on B.B. Ganguly Street, located near the police headquarters in Lalbazar, singing songs and raising slogans against the police administration.

Several attempts by the top officials of the city police to convince the protesting doctors failed as they vowed to continue with their agitation for an indefinite period until their demands were met.

The agitators even placed red roses and the replica of a spine on the barricade to highlight their claim of police inaction in the RG Kar case.

(With inputs from IANS)