Protesting doctors on Mamata Banerjee’s tea offer: Only if justice is served

Refusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s offer of tea, junior doctors continued their agitation in Kolkata on Sunday, demanding justice for the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor who was brutally raped and murdered at the city’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. They said that they would only have the tea if justice is served.
Dr Aqeeb, part of the delegation that met with Mamata Banerjee at her residence, stated that the chief minister invited them for tea.
Speaking with news agency ANI, Dr Aqeeb, stated, “We were asked to come for an official dialogue at Kalighat; we went there. When we went there, we even compromised with our demand that the meeting be live.”
“The Chief Minister came outside and requested us to have a meeting over tea — but the junior doctors said that we would have tea only if justice would be delivered. We later gave up on the demand of recording as well and just asked for the minutes of the meeting, but it was told to us that there had been a delay and nothing could be done now,” he added.
On Saturday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a police officer and the former principal of RG Kar Medical College, Sandip Ghosh, for delay in the filing of the FIR, and allegedly tampering with evidence.
Dr Aqeeb stated that the arrest of Sandip Ghosh validates their demands, stating, “What Sandip Ghosh has done is an institutional crime. We want all those involved to resign.” He also recalled a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which ended without any resolution. The junior doctors had requested the meeting be recorded, but the government declined, prompting the doctors to leave without an agreement.
The doctors have been staging a sit-in outside Swasthya Bhavan since Tuesday with a host of demands, including better security at state-run hospitals and the removal of top officials over the trainee doctor’s rape and murder at RG Kar hospital.
Meanwhile, Banerjee had offered to record the meeting but insisted that the government control the recording, a proposal the doctors rejected. As the demand for live-streaming of the talks grew, the Bengal Chief Minister urged the protesting doctors, who had come to her residence for negotiations, to join the meeting.