The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) has demanded a judicially monitored probe and strict preservation of evidence in the death of a young nursing student at a private facility in Singur, Hooghly, which has sparked fresh outrage in Bengal.
The WBJDF, which had spearheaded the movement against the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata last year, called the Singur case a rerun.
The deceased, a resident of Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, had joined the Singur nursing home four days ago. On Thursday evening, she was found hanging inside the premises during duty hours. While the hospital management described the death as suicide, her family alleged she was sexually assaulted and murdered after uncovering irregularities at the facility.
The handling of the case has already raised red flags, the WBJDF claimed.
“Before the family could even reach, her body was hastily moved to the local police station, then to Serampore Walsh Hospital, and finally brought to the morgue of Kolkata Medical College this morning,” the group said in a statement late Friday.
It drew parallels with the RG Kar case.
“This incident reopens the wounds of 9 August — and once again, the state, the Centre, the police, and investigative agencies seem united only in evading accountability. Negligence in investigation, tampering with evidence, ignoring the family’s version — the police once again appear more eager to protect perpetrators than to uphold the law,” WBJDF said.
The organisation has placed five specific demands: A post-mortem under the direct supervision of a judicial magistrate with full videography, a swift, impartial judicial inquiry free from political influence, public disclosure of all findings at every stage of the probe, exemplary punishment for those responsible, immediate preservation of the crime scene and retrieval of CCTV footage in a forensically sound manner.
Backing the family’s demand for the autopsy to be conducted at a central government hospital, WBJDF said only transparency could restore faith in the investigation.
The police have allowed this demand, and the autopsy was underway at Kalyani AIIMS at the time of writing this report.
The incident has also triggered political reactions. Both BJP and CPM workers staged demonstrations against the police decision to shift the body to Kolkata. Leaders accused the Bengal police of prematurely declaring the death a suicide and attempting to cover up evidence, drawing comparisons to the RG Kar probe, where hospital authorities and law enforcement were criticised for shifting the body of the victim.
