'Doctors Have Given Us Citizens, A Spine'

'When we get justice we will stop the protest.'

IMAGE: Junior doctors hold a protest march from Salt Lake City Sector 5 to Swasthya Bhavan in Kolkata, September 15, 2024, demanding justice for the victim in the R G Kar Hospital rape-murder case. Photograph: ANI Photo

Police at the barricades at the doctors' protest site near Swasthya Bhavan in Kolkata take a look at our press cards and let us in. Vehicles are not allowed, except police cars.

It is the 39th day of the doctors' protest at the site in Salt Lake. After a few days of rain which had tempered the Kolkata heat, the sun is scorching hot again on Tuesday morning.

Rows of tents have been set up with giant pedestal fans where protesting medical students sit in groups on wooden planked beds covered with dhurries.

Some are lying down and resting or asleep. Some have gone home only a few times; some have done shifts, spending all their days and nights here. They are joined by students from other streams who are at the protest site in solidarity.

Some wear 'We Want Justice' bands on their foreheads and t-shirts bearing the slogan. Banners, mostly in Bangla, and a few in English are pinned to tarpaulins that serve as the roof of what has come to be the temporary home of the doctors.

On Tuesday morning the doctors have had sandwiches for breakfast. A man selling tea sits by the wall. Packs of mineral water are stacked in several places. A man goes around the beds, where some protestors lie asleep, picking up rubbish in a giant black garbage bag.

A group of women working for an NGO have organised lunch for 300 doctors -- huge containers of millet Khichdi and Alu-Dum potato curry.

At the far end, a group of doctors have set up the 'Abhaya Clinic', the name given to the deceased victim. Doctors sit and write prescriptions for those who have come seeking treatment, a bunch of medicines lie on the table.

On a 'Cease Work' protest until justice is done to their colleague who was raped and brutally killed -- and to address the deep rooted wrongs of the state medical education system -- the doctors are unrelenting till all their demands are addressed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's government, confronting an acute crisis led by the young that has transfixed the city of joy.

Rediff.com's Archana Masih reports on an afternoon spent with the striking doctors:

Dr Debjani Baral, a post graduate trainee, has spent the last week on shifts and the last four nights at the protest site.

WATCH: Dr Debjani Baral on the need for safety and security of junior doctors

All Videos: Archana Masih/Rediff.com

"We want safety. Sometimes female and male doctors have to share the same common room to rest or go to seminar rooms to rest."

"We do not feel safe because our colleague died while on duty. We are not sure what measures will be taken to ensure our safety in the future."

Hiya Paul, an Arts student who is part of a group of artists that has been painting slogans in the city in solidarity with the doctors.

WATCH: Hiya Paul speaks about slogans at the protest

"The slogans speak out against the culture of rape, victim blaming and patriarchy."

"We don't work under the banner of any political party, but nothing in society can be apolitical."

"Our protest is not against any political party. It is against the system, against the people in power, irrespective of whichever party is in power."

IMAGE: Junior doctors, protesting over the RG Kar rape and murder case, celebrate after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee agrees to doctors' demands including the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal and removal of health department officials, September 17, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

The protesting doctors have been running the 'Abhaya Clinic' named after their dead colleague at the protest site.

The clinic has been operational for two weeks.

"We are not confining to 'Cease Work', but continue to serve the people through this clinic. People are supporting us and are kind to our movement," says Dr Anik Ghosh, an intern.

WATCH: Interns provide treatment at the 'Abhaya Clinic'

"We see a ray of hope. We are waiting for justice from day one and hope for the best. When we get justice we will stop the protest."

A group of environmentalists from a farmer's collective NGO provided lunch on Tuesday for 300 people.

The women have supported the movement for the past month.

"We salute the young doctors. They have given us all a spine. Our fight is on," says Somini Sen Dua.

Among the doctors stand a group of children who raise slogans for justice.

Hear them lend their voice: 'Justice for RG Kar'

Videos edited by Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com