Damaged medical equipment, destroyed lifesaving drugs, broken beds and chairs, and shattered glasses tell the horrific story of alleged violence and vandalism that the ground floor of the emergency building of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital witnessed late night Wednesday when a strong mob of 40-50 miscreants—under the garb of protests— allegedly stormed the premises and vandalised the property and ran amok, sowing terror among nurses, other medical staff and police officers posted there.
The chaos—caused by the group of miscreants—was so intense that police officers stationed at state-run RG Kar Medical College to monitor the protests by women under the 'Reclaim the Night' campaign against the alleged gruesome rape and brutal murder of the lady doctor last week, sought refuge with the hospital staff as they were outnumbered by the rampaging mob.
“The police sought safety from us. Two officers, who were on duty, said please hide us in your ward,” India Today quoted a nurse as saying.
The miscreants—who were carrying sticks, bricks and rods—vandalised the Emergency ward, its nursing station and the medicine store at the hospital.
The nurse told India Today that the mob “wanted to break into the seminar room (where the lady doctor was allegedly raped and killed). Their main target was that.”
She further said the mob allegedly tried to enter the third floor, but they couldn't. They destroyed the second floor... they may have thought that this is the floor where the crime occurred,” she added.
Later, the Kolkata police clarified that the crime scene of the alleged brutal rape and murder of the woman doctor had not been disturbed during the mob vandalism. In a post on 'X', the police said, “The crime scene is the seminar room and it has not been touched. Don't spread unverified news. We will initiate legal action for spreading rumours.”
Describing the terror caused by the alleged mob attack, they said, “We went downstairs, and we were so afraid. We saw our junior and senior nurses crying in fear due to the attack.”
“Maybe another case of abuse may have happened yesterday. We all left the premises crying. This was a horrific experience for us,” the nurse added.
Expressing fear for her safety, another nurse said she felt she could be killed at any time.
In the morning, the nurses at the hospital protested the vandalism and demanded proper security on the premises.
"Such hooliganism inside a hospital is unacceptable," one of the protesting nurses said.
"The goons entered the campus and beat up agitating doctors. This was an attempt to break our morale so that we back out from the protest. But such incidents have only strengthened our resolve to fight till the end," said one of the protesting doctors, who did not want to be named.
The police did not come to their help, said one of the protesting doctors. “We were attacked at around midnight. The police ran faster than us. The goons beat some of us and ransacked the area. We are terrorised. They tried to break us, but our spirit to protest is still intact.” a protesting doctor said.
Police said they fired tear gas to disperse the mob, which damaged a police vehicle and several motorcycles. Some officers were injured.
