West Bengal | Medics win first round

The CM has agreed to remove Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal, director of medical education Kaustav Nayek, director of health services Debasish Haldar, and Abhishek Gupta, deputy commissioner (North), Kolkata Police

ISSUE DATE: Sep 30, 2024

It is not every day that the Supreme Court, especially the bench of the Chief Justice of India, finds itself “disturbed” by a status report filed by an investigating agency. But the rape-and-murder case of a junior doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) in Kolkata moved even CJI D.Y. Chandrachud into imagining the worst. While hearing the matter on September 17, he said: “What the CBI has revealed in the report is worse, really disturbing...we ourselves are concerned.” Chandrachud said the CBI is probing if the crime scene has been tampered with, whether evidence was destroyed, whether there was complicity of other people in the crime as well as financial irregularities at RGKMCH. The CJI said that the investigating agency must be given more time to “unearth the absolute truth”. The overall optics has brought no redeeming touch for the state government yet. The court rebuked it even for suggesting limited work hours for women and limiting night duties for them “to the extent possible”. “They (women) don’t want a concession...women are ready to work at exactly the same time shift,” the CJI observed. Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for West Bengal, agreed to do away with these suggestions. Indira Jaising, the counsel for the striking doctors—who are now leading the movement for justice for the victim—kept the pressure up by saying the doctors can resume work only if assured proper security. The state duly submitted to the SC its detailed plan to ensure the safety of doctors.

Meanwhile in Kolkata, from their newest bastion—the protest site on the street in front of Swasthya Bhawan, head-quarters of the state health department—junior doctors turned down chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s calls for negotiations twice, stressing that any meeting has to be videographed to ensure “transparency” and rejecting the state’s reason for refusal that the matter was sub judice in the SC. Their resolute stance forced Mamata to personally come on September 14 and assure them of justice. A breakthrough came on September 16, when the two parties finally met, softening the impasse by agreeing on stenographers taking minutes. In a stunning victory for the doctors and in partial fulfilment of their demands, Mamata agreed to remove Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal, director of medical education Kaustav Nayek, director of health services (DHS) Debasish Haldar, and Abhishek Gupta, the deputy commissioner (DC), North, Kolkata Police. When Mamata requested the protesters to resume work, they said the strike would continue till the promises were executed.

Goyal was replaced by Manoj Kumar Verma as Kolkata’s top cop, while Dipak Sarkar will replace Abhishek Gupta as DC, North. Haldar has been replaced by his deputy Swapan Soren as DHS in charge.

The doctors, who have continued to strike despite the Supreme Court asking them to resume their duties, are sticking to their “five-point demand”—punishing those responsible for the crime; strict action against former RGKMCH principal Sandip Ghosh, the resignations of Goyal and the DCPs North and Central (Kolkata), the elimination of the alleged “threat culture” in Bengal’s medical colleges and adequate security measures for healthcare workers. Ghosh was arrested by the CBI on September 14 for allegedly destroying evidence and is already in the dock on graft charges. Along with Haldar and Nayek, the doctors also want the removal of health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam. “Not even one of the pests which are eating up the public health system of our state can be spared,” a protesting doctor tells India Today.

The nondescript street in front of Swasthya Bhawan has assumed an air of a settled habitation since the sit-in demonstration started on September 10. The protesters want for nothing: food of all manner, bio-toilets, electricity connections through generator sets to tarpaulin shelters and a regular supply of clothes to keep dry in the heavy monsoon rain are in abundance. Tokens of support and solidarity have been pouring in from across the country. “We have your support and that is why we are able to continue this fight,” Amrita Bhattacharya, a junior resident doctor said in a video message. She is a member of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF), which is spearheading the movement. Though there have been attempts by the Trinamool Congress to malign the movement by tagging it with Opposition political parties, it remains proudly apolitical.

The CM has led and resisted numerous political movements. “But an apolitical, leaderless protest that has the support of the common people is alien to her,” says political analyst Biswajit Bhattacharya. Right now, she has seen merit in making a conciliatory move.