West Bengal Cong seeks HC permission for protest rally on August 29

Kolkata:  West Bengal unit of Congress, on Tuesday, approached, a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court seeking permission to conduc...

Kolkata: West Bengal unit of Congress, on Tuesday, approached, a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court seeking permission to conduct a protest rally from College Square in central Kolkata to Shyambazar in North Kolkata on August 29 condemning the rape and murder of R.G. Kar doctor.

The petition has been filed by veteran Congress leader and five-time former Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and his party colleague Asutosh Chattopadhyay.

The single-judge bench of Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj has admitted the petition and the matter will come up for hearing on Wednesday. Chowdhury claimed that the petition had been filed since Kolkata Police had denied them permission for the protest rally.

The Shyambazar five-point crossing is quite close to the R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, from the seminar hall from which the body of the doctor was recovered on August 9.

Although Chowdhury had been quite vocal on the case since the beginning, the state unit of Congress had yet to be actively hitting the streets on the matter to date.

Finally, on Monday, Chowdhury informed the media persons that the state Congress will conduct the protest rally on Thursday.

Earlier, on August 14, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack against the West Bengal government over the case accusing the state administration and the hospital authorities of saving the accused.

“The attempt to save the accused instead of providing justice to the victim raises serious questions for the hospital and the local administration. This incident has forced us to think that if doctors are not safe in a place like a medical college, then how can parents send their daughters outside for studies? Why are even the strict laws made after the Nirbhaya case unsuccessful in preventing such crimes?” Rahul Gandhi said in a statement posted on his official X handle on August 14.

Two days before that Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra issued an appeal to the West Bengal government to take immediate and strict action in the alleged rape and murder case.