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Hundreds took to the streets on Friday night to mark a year since the rape and murder of a young doctor at her workplace. On the morning of August 9, 2024, the postgraduate trainee was found dead at RG Kar hospital. On Friday, small protest rallies and human chains were held across the city. A torch rally began from College Square around 10.30pm with around 300 people, swelling to nearly 1,000 in half an hour. Protesters carried banners and posters of Bhagat Singh, Pritilata Waddedar, and Rabindranath Tagore. Among those marching were familiar faces from last year’s protests — junior doctors Aniket Mahata, Debashis Halder, and Asfakulla Naiya. “She is yet to get justice. If the demands raised last year had been fulfilled, this rally wouldn’t have been needed,” said Naiya. Many in the crowd felt justice had been denied. The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front distributed headbands with the words Bhulini Bhulbona (Have not forgotten, will not forget). Srijita Bhattacharya, 33, a banker from Kamalgazi on the city’s southern fringes, said the power of last year’s protests was in mobilising common people not affiliated with politics. “It’s clear to us that this cannot be the work of one man. We are still waiting for justice,” she said. At midnight, the five-point crossing at Shyambazar was entirely blocked by the protesters. They vowed to continue the vigil through the night. Around 12.30am, the slain doctor’s father was speaking at the Shyambazar crossing

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Metro spoke to several women who gathered at College Street before the rally moved towards Shyambazar. Many said they were part of the “Reclaim the Night” protests last year. The crowd included people from outside the medical fraternity
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