Protests in India grow in response to the rape and murder of a doctor.
Demonstrations in India erupted after a mob damaged a hospital in West Bengal state where a female trainee doctor was raped and died.
On Wednesday, the hospital was vandalised as part of the large Reclaim the Night march in Kolkata to denounce the heinous crime. Minor rallies were place in numerous other Indian cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country's biggest doctor's organisation, has declared a statewide non-emergency strike for Saturday.
Doctors' groups in other cities, as well as political groups in West Bengal, have organised rallies on Friday and over the next few days to protest the attacks. On Wednesday night, thousands of women throughout the state marched in the Take the Night march to ask for "unity to live in liberty and without intimidation".
Though the rallies were mostly peaceful, skirmishes broke out among police and a small number of unidentified individuals who stormed into the RG Kar Hospital, the scene of the illicit activity, and ransacked the emergency room. Videos circulating online showed the men breaking mattresses and appliances with clubs.
Protesters told the channel that the assault harmed some doctors and hospital employees. During the commotion, some police cars were destroyed, and tear gas was used to disperse the crowds. So far, the Kolkata police have detained 19 people in relation with the event. On Thursday, the IMA condemned the incident as "hooliganism unleashed on protesting students" and ordered the suspension of non-emergency services for 24 hours beginning Saturday at 06:00 local time [00:30 GMT]. "Doctors, particularly women, are vulnerable to assault due to the nature of their work. It is up to the government to ensure doctors' safety inside hospitals and campuses," the IMA added in an announcement.
The nation must support the IMA's doctors' just cause and show sympathy for them.
Another significant physicians' organisation, the Federation of Resident physicians' Association (Forda), has also decided to continue its strike after suspending it on Tuesday. After federal Health Minister JP Nadda gave assurances to the protestors that their demands, which included a federal law to stop attacks on physicians, would be realised, the demonstration was called off.
In West Bengal, the tragedy has additionally contributed to a political guilt game, with the ruling Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) being accused of masterminding the attack by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The TMC has denied any involvement in the abuse and accused "political outsiders" of inciting it. The nation has been stunned by the rape of the 31-year-old female trainee doctor.
Last week, her severely injured, half-naked body was found in a seminar hall. A hospital volunteer who was employed by the facility has been taken into custody in relation to the offence. Two more rape instances have made Indian headlines since then. A nurse was allegedly slain after being raped in the northern state of Uttarakhand on her way home from work. Her body was discovered last week; she had vanished at the end of July. An individual from the western state of Rajasthan has been taken into custody by police in relation to the crime.
In the meantime, six persons are being held in the northern state of Bihar on suspicion of killing and gang raping a teenage Dalit girl. On Tuesday morning, her disfigured body was discovered close to a pond in a village in the Muzaffarpur district.
