RG Kar rape-murder case: Junior doctors’ leader claims discrimination in posting

Kolkata, May 27
The West Bengal health department is once again in the midst of controversy with Debasish Halder, the face of the junior doctor's movement in R.G. Kar rape and murder case, given a posting as a senior resident doctor at a state-run hospital which officially does not have any vacancy for that particular position.

West Bengal Junior Doctor’s Front (WBJDF), the umbrella body of junior doctors in the state spearheading movement against the rape and murder tragedy, informed that recently Halder, along with some of the protesting junior doctors, appeared for counselling for posting as senior residents in different state-run hospital in the state.

First postings as senior residents in rural hospitals are mandatory for senior residents, and those appearing at the counselling session are given the option to choose their places of posting from the list of rural hospitals where there are vacancies.

According to Halder, he opted for the Howrah District Hospital. However, when the list of postings was published, it was seen that he was the only one whose place of posting had been different from what he had opted for. He had been given a posting to a rural hospital at Gazelle of Malda district in North West Bengal.

Moreover, Halder alleged that the said hospital at Gazelle did not have any official vacancies and hence the name of that hospital was not in the list of hospitals with vacancies, which was provided to those appearing for the counselling session.

WBJDF has alleged that this sheer discrimination just against Halder was a sheer reflection of the vindictive attitude of the state government because of his forefront involvement in the protest programmes in the rape and murder tragedy.

The front will submit a deputation to the state health department on Tuesday afternoon.

To recall, the body of a woman doctor attached to the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata was taken from the seminar room within the hospital premises in August last year.

The sole accused in the rape and murder of that junior doctor and an erstwhile civic volunteer attached to Kolkata Police, Sanjay Roy is now serving life imprisonment after being convicted and sentenced by a trial court in Kolkata.

However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which handled the investigation in the matter, had already approached the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Roy.

Meanwhile, the parents of the victim too have approached the Calcutta High Court seeking a fresh CBI probe to reveal the bigger conspiracy behind the crime as well as to find out whether Roy had other partners in the crime of rape and murder.