NEW DELHI: West Bengal Police on Saturday lathi-charged protesters in central Kolkata as they attempted to breach barricades during the ‘Nabanna Chalo Abhiyan,’ march to the state secretariat.The rally marked the first anniversary of the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College.Protesters waved the Tricolour, carried banners demanding justice for the RG Kar victim, and shouted slogans for the resignation of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.Tension gripped as protesters tried to break through police barricades while marching towards Vidyasagar Setu, defying warnings to remain at the Rani Rashmoni Road assembly point.West Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari, BJP leader Agnimitra Paul, and several party MLAs staged a sit-in at the Park Street–J L Nehru Road crossing, alleging that over 100 protesters — including themselves and the RG Kar victim’s parents, were injured in the police lathi-charge.“Mamata Banerjee will pay dearly for this. This protest is only going to get bigger from here,” Adhikari warned, PTI reported.Despite repeated police appeals over loudspeakers to follow the Calcutta High Court’s order and maintain order, protesters were seen scaling 10-foot barricades, using blunt tools to break through iron walls, and forcing openings to move ahead.Heavy police and RAF deployment, along with water cannons, were positioned at key points to block the march.“The police can fire upon us, but we are determined to reach ‘Nabanna’, where the state government must answer why justice has not been delivered to Abhaya (RG Kar victim) even after one year,” a protestor said, the agency added.Earlier, the victim’s father alleged that police tried to stop the family from joining the march despite court permission for a peaceful rally. “We had to come dodging police at several points to get here,” the father told reporters, terming the obstruction a violation of their rights.The parents had urged the citizens to join the march accusing the authorities of attempting to silence their demand for justice.Adhikari had also urged BJP workers to join the march without party flags, while the family appealed to all citizens to participate. He had declared that the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ was not a political event but a call by the murdered doctor’s parents.Police, citing a Calcutta High Court order, had earlier designated Santragachi bus stand and Rani Rashmoni Avenue as protest sites.Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita were enforced near Nabanna, with multi-layer barricades at several crossings. Traffic movement on Howrah Bridge and Vidyasagar Setu over the Hooghly River was halted as part of security measures.The incident traces back to the August 9, 2024, killing of a young doctor, whose body was found in a seminar room at RG Kar Hospital in north Kolkata. Former civic volunteer Sanjay Roy was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment until death in January 2025. The CBI, which took over the probe following court orders, maintained Roy as the sole accused.
