Indian doctors to strike over rape and murder of trainee

Indian doctors have said they will hold the biggest walkout in over a decade as they intensify protests against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country’s largest group of medics with 400,000 members, said the 24-hour nationwide strike would begin on Saturday and would be aimed at crippling all but emergency services. Doctors at both state-run and private hospitals have said they will participate.
The association said it was declaring “a nationwide withdrawal of services by doctors of modern medicine” to protest against the “brutal crime”. It said it was seeking “the sympathy of the nation” for “the just cause of its doctors”.
The strike, which is due to be the largest in at least ten years, is the latest in a string of demonstrations since the victim, 31, was found on Friday last week in a seminar room of a state-run hospital, where she had gone to nap during a 36-hour shift. Under Indian law, the victim cannot be named.
A post-mortem examination has shown that the victim may have been raped by more than one man, and the crime has triggered a nationwide outcry.
On Thursday tens of thousands of women in Kolkata ushered in Indian Independence Day with a demonstration against the doctor’s killing, calling for “women’s independence on the midnight of independence”.
“We want justice,” the demonstrators chanted as they walked holding hands through the streets, where they were joined by many men.
The protest began late on Wednesday and continued into Thursday morning. While it was passing the hospital, a mob of men entered the nearby medical institute, attacking doctors, vandalising rooms and breaking CCTV cameras. Police threw tear gas shells to disperse them.
Opposition parties said the vandalism was an attempt to intimidate protesters by the state government, which fears wider unrest.
Healthcare services in West Bengal and at various state-run hospitals have been crippled due to a strike by junior doctors demanding greater safety after the attack.
“How can these crimes still be happening? This heinous crime exposes the alarming lack of security in our hospitals,” the Federation of All India Medical Association said.
Narendra Modi, the prime minister, felt compelled to refer to the public’s reaction in his Independence Day address: “I feel this outrage … over atrocities against our mothers and sisters. The country, the society, our state governments need to take this seriously.”
Rahul Gandhi, the opposition leader, said: “The country is shocked by the gruesome incident … There’s an atmosphere of insecurity among doctors and women.”
Adding fuel to the protests are suggestions of a cover-up, as the hospital initially told the family their daughter had committed suicide. Police began to investigate only after the parents complained.
Police arrested a four-times married man who was a “civic volunteer” and had unfettered access to the hospital and a close association with officers. He was held at police barracks and was drunk at the time of the attack, it was reported. Eight other men are being questioned.
Commentators are calling the attack “Nirbhaya 2”, a reference to the infamous 2012 gang-rape and murder of a medical student on a Delhi bus. That incident made global headlines, igniting public fury and prompting demands for better safety for women.
Although the government introduced stringent laws to protect women, violence against women persists in the deeply patriarchal society. The culprits of the gang-rape were hanged in Delhi.