Kolkata: One year after the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata again erupted in protests on Saturday, marking the anniversary with demands for justice.
The “Nabanna Abhiyan” march to the State secretariat turned violent as police resorted to lathi charges, leaving the victim’s mother injured and intensifying public outrage against the Mamata Banerjee-led Government. She was admitted to a private hospital for treatment.
Protests were organised across Kolkata since Friday night to commemorate the August 9, 2024, incident, where the doctor’s body was discovered in a seminar room, sparking nationwide fury.
Organised by the victim’s parents and supported by Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition, today’s march aimed to press for a comprehensive investigation and the Chief Minister’s resignation.
Protesters waved the Tricolour, carried banners reading “Justice for Abhaya”—the nickname given to the victim—and chanted slogans demanding accountability, reflecting widespread frustration over the stalled probe.
Tensions peaked as demonstrators attempted to breach barricades near Vidyasagar Setu, defying a Calcutta High Court order designating Santragachi bus stand and Rani Rashmoni Avenue as protest sites.
Police, backed by Rapid Action Force (RAF) units, water cannons, and drone surveillance, enforced prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) near Nabanna in Howrah.
Multi-layered barricades and traffic halts on Howrah Bridge and Vidyasagar Setu underscored the heightened security. Despite loudspeaker appeals to adhere to the court’s directive, protesters tried to scale 10-foot barriers. The police resorted to lathi charges at Park Street and Santragachi.
The victim’s mother bore the brunt of the police action, alleging she was roughed up while en route to join the march. She suffered a head injury and the breaking of her traditional shankha (conch shell) bangles—a cultural symbol of marital status in Bengal.
“Why are they stopping us like this? All we want is to reach Nabanna and seek justice for my daughter,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. Her husband, the victim’s father, accused police of obstructing their court-permitted peaceful rally at Dorina Crossing, despite dodging multiple checkpoints to participate.
“We had to come dodging police at several points to get here,” he told reporters, calling it a violation of their rights. The family had earlier met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and CBI Director Praveen Sood this week, expressing dissatisfaction with the investigation, which they believe remains incomplete.
BJP Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, joined by party MLA Agnimitra Paul and others, staged a sit-in at the Park Street–J L Nehru Road crossing, claiming over 100 protesters, including the parents, were injured.
“Mamata Banerjee will pay dearly for this. This protest is only going to get bigger,” Adhikari warned, vowing to escalate the movement. He had urged BJP workers to join without party flags, framing the march as a non-political call by the victim’s family. The TMC, however, accused the BJP of politicising the tragedy, with minor clashes reported in Haridevpur between protesters and alleged TMC supporters.
BJP leader Agnimitra Paul said: “The police can fire upon us, but we are determined to reach Nabanna, where Mamata must answer why justice has not been delivered to Abhaya even after one year.”
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that Abhaya’s mother’s injuries were inflicted by BJP leader Kaustav Bagchi to extract political mileage. The party also held multiple press conferences to condemn the BJP for “orchestrating violence on the day of Raksha Bandhan.”
“‘Nabanna Abhiyan’ is nothing more than an excuse to intimidate ordinary citizens and sow division in society,” Trinamool Congress leader Shashi Panja said.
Expressing concern over the timing of the protest, the Trinamool Congress noted that it coincided with Bengal’s Raksha Bandhan celebrations, a festival that Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had championed as a symbol of peace and communal harmony, and alleged that the BJP showed complete disrespect for Bengal’s traditions, exposing what it described as “the real face of Bangla-Birodhi BJP.”
