Junior doctors in Kolkata resume full strike amid disappointment with top court’s ruling

NEW DELHI – Junior doctors in India’s West Bengal state resumed their full strike on Oct 1, complaining that the country’s judiciary has not made adequate efforts to restore justice after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in August.

Doctors from the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which represents about 7,000 physicians in the state, reinstated partial services in September, citing the flood situation in parts of the state.

The rape and murder of the 31-year-old female doctor in Kolkata, capital of the eastern state, set off a wave of protests by doctors demanding greater workplace safety for women and justice for their slain colleague, prompting India’s Supreme Court to create a hospital safety task force.

The top court, at its latest hearing on Sept 30, urged the state government to put in place all measures to meet the doctors’ demands by Oct 15. It also asked the information ministry to ensure the identity of the victim was concealed and not shared online, as required by law.

But the doctors said they were disappointed with the court’s decisions and were “compelled to return to a full ceasework”.

“Unless we receive clear action from the government on safety, patient services, and the politics of fear, we will have no choice but to continue our full strike,” the group said in a statement on Oct 1.

The doctors’ demands include increased police protection in hospitals and investigation of what they say is corruption in several medical colleges.

West Bengal, ruled by the regional Trinamool Congress party, has been slow to create new tribunals to try sex crimes speedily, according to a Reuters report.

Only six tribunals are operational in the state, a far cry from the target of installing 123 fast-track tribunals by March 2021. REUTERS