Protesters formed human chains, painted graffiti on the streets, sang the national anthem holding burning torches, and many people waved the tricolour flag.
The recent rape and murder case of the trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata led to a series of protests that show no signs of stopping. On Sunday night, protests were held in many cities and towns of West Bengal, including Kolkata, against the incident. A large number of protesters took to the streets to protest the incidents of rape and murder.
Protesters formed human chains, painted graffiti on the streets, sang the national anthem holding burning torches, and many people waved the tricolour flag. Civil society has allowed hoisting of the tricolour in non-political rallies across the state to register protests.
The hearing of the case will be held today in the Supreme Court. Many protesters who participated in the third programme of ‘Reclaim the Night’ in the state said that they are confident that the Supreme Court will deliver justice.
Protests were held in every corner of Kolkata over the rape-murder incident, and protesters lit up the ‘flashlight’ of their mobile phones to record their protest. At this time, many were wearing black clothes. In an unprecedented show of solidarity, thousands of people took to the streets in Kolkata and its suburbs, in cities like Siliguri, Durgapur, Kharagpur, Balurghat, Purulia, Cooch Behar and other small towns and villages.
A human chain was formed from Shyambazar in North Kolkata to Sodepur, about 14 kilometres long. Apart from students and teachers, people from various walks of life, from IT professionals to rickshaw pullers, participated in the protest in various parts of the city on Sunday. The mother of the female trainee demanded that all the criminals be arrested, saying that she had a daughter earlier and now all the doctors who are protesting are her children.
About 4,000 ex-students from more than 40 schools in South Kolkata walked two kilometres for justice. A large number of women participated in this protest. Alumni of various age groups took out a rally from Gariahat Road via Rashbehari Avenue to the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rd intersection, raising slogans of “We want justice.”
Garima Ghosh, the main organiser of the protest, said, “Apart from our main demand that all those involved in the brutal assault and killing of Abhaya (symbolic name of the victim) should be punished, we also demand safety for women in all workplaces.”
In the third stage of the ‘Reclaim the Night’ campaign, a huge number of people took to the streets in different parts of the state on Sunday midnight. The first similar protest was organised on August 14 and the second on September 4.
