Kolkata Police deny junior doctors permission to hold mega rally

Kolkata: The planned massive demonstration by members of the medical community here on Tuesday afternoon, starting at 4.30 p.m., to condemn the rape and killing of a junior doctor in August has been denied permission by Kolkata Police.

West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF), the umbrella body spearheading the movement, issued a statement on Tuesday morning that the denial of the permission was intimated to them by the city police through an email sent at the wee hours after Monday midnight, IANS reported.

At the same time, WBJDF reminded the state administration and the city police that their democratic movement, which involves spontaneous participation by common people, "cannot be suppressed under any circumstance."

The mega rally was supposed to start at 4.30 p.m. from College Square and end at Esplanade in central Kolkata at the dais where seven junior doctors have undertaken fast-unto-death agitation on their demands over the rape and murder. WBJDF has also invited the common people to join them in the protest rally.

The protesting junior doctors claimed that the city police have denied permission citing some popular Puja pandals on the rally route and hence, the rally will cause inconvenience for pandal-hoppers.

“This reasoning is baseless since the rally route does not have any major and popular pandals where the footfall is higher. Our peaceful protests involving spontaneous participation by common people cannot be suppressed under any circumstance,” said a WBJDF representative.

Starting from Saturday evening, the junior doctors have started a unique protest, where some of them are on fast-unto-death agitation, while the others have gone back to their medical services duty withdrawing their cease-work.

Initially, six junior doctors, three females and three males, started the hunger strike. On Sunday evening, their seventh colleague joined them.