Kolkata rape and murder: Doctors to partially withdraw strike

Agitating junior doctors announced to "partially" withdraw their 'cease work' and rejoin emergency and essential services at state-run hospitals from Saturday (September 21), as the West Bengal government has accepted most of their demands.

The medics, who have been on 'cease work' for the last 41 days following the rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, announced that they would lift their sit-in outside Swasthya Bhawan on Friday.

Before lifting the sit-in, they would march from Swasthya Bhawan, the state health department headquarters, to the CBI office at CGO Complex in the Salt Lake area.

Junior doctors across the state have been on strike since August 9 demanding justice for the junior doctor who was raped and murdered in RG Kar Hospital last month. The incident triggered a nationwide uproar.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court asked the doctors to return to work by 5pm on September 10. But the agitators defied the deadline, saying their demands hadn’t been met.

The body of a second-year postgraduate student, who was allegedly raped and murdered inside a seminar hall of the hospital, was found on August 9. The crime took place at the third-floor seminar hall of the chest department late at night and police later said that multiple lacerations and wounds were found on her body.