Indian doctors launched a nationwide strike Saturday, escalating protests after the “barbaric”\u00a0rape\u00a0and\u00a0murder of their colleague that has channeled outrage at the chronic issue of violence against\u00a0women.<\/p>\n
The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 sparked furious protests in several cities across the country.<\/p>\n
Many have been led by doctors and other healthcare workers but also joined by tens of thousands of ordinary Indians demanding action.<\/p>\n
In Kolkata, thousands held a candle-lit vigil into the early hours of Saturday morning. “Hands that heal shouldn’t bleed,” read one handwritten sign held by a protester in the eastern city.<\/p>\n
“Enough is enough,” read another at a rally by doctors in the capital\u00a0New Delhi. “Hang the rapist”, another said.<\/p>\n
The murdered doctor was found in the teaching\u00a0hospital’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a rest during a 36-hour shift.<\/p>\n
An autopsy confirmed\u00a0sexual assault\u00a0and, in a petition to the court, the victim’s parents said they suspected their daughter was gang-raped.<\/p>\n
One man, who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, has been detained.<\/p>\n
However, Kolkata’s police were accused by an angry public of mishandling the case and the city’s High Court transferred the investigation to\u00a0India’s top Central Bureau of Investigation to “inspire public confidence”.<\/p>\n
‘Struggle for justice’<\/h2>\n
Those in government hospitals across several states on Monday halted elective services “indefinitely”, with multiple medical unions in both government and private systems backing the strikes.<\/p>\n
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) escalated protests on Saturday morning with a 24-hour “nationwide withdrawal of services”, and the suspension of all non-essential procedures.<\/p>\n
“We ask for the understanding and support of the nation in this struggle for justice for its doctors and daughters,” IMA chief R.V. Asokan said in a statement ahead of the strike. The IMA called the killing “barbaric”.<\/p>\n
“The 36-hour duty shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces to rest… warrant a thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of the resident doctors,” the IMA said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Doctors are demanding the implementation of the Central Protection Act, a bill to protect healthcare workers from violence.<\/p>\n
“There is a lack of proper infrastructure,” said 29-year-old Akanksha Tyagi, a resident at the Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi who took part in one of the multiple protests around the country.<\/p>\n
“After working for 24-36 hours at a stretch, there’s no proper place for us to rest,” she said.<\/p>\n
‘Monstrous’<\/h2>\n
Prime Minister\u00a0Narendra Modi\u00a0demanded on Thursday swift punishment for those who commit “monstrous” deeds against women.<\/p>\n
Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India — an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4 billion people.<\/p>\n
For many, the gruesome nature of the hospital attack has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus.<\/p>\n
That woman became a symbol of socially conservative India’s failure to tackle sexual violence against women.\u00a0 Her death sparked huge, and at times violent, demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Under pressure, the government introduced harsher penalties for rapists and the\u00a0death penalty\u00a0for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n
Several new sexual offenses were also introduced — including stalking — and officials who refuse to register rape complaints can now be jailed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KOLKATA: Hospitals and clinics across India halted services for all but emergency cases on Saturday as medical professionals launched a 24-hour strike in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata. Indian doctors launched a nationwide strike Saturday, escalating protests after the “barbaric”\u00a0rape\u00a0and\u00a0murder of their colleague that has channeled outrage at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":45286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13446,3],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-45285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45288,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45285\/revisions\/45288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}