Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: BJP Leader Suvendu Writes To President Murmu, Requests Withdrawal of President’s Medal To Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal

Kolkata: In a fresh attack at the Kolkata Police, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, wrote to President Droupadi Murmu requesting the withdrawal of the President’s Police Medal and the Police Medal awarded to Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal. The BJP leader alleged that Kolkata Police is inactive over vandalism at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 14 and doesn’t deserve the medal.

The BJP leader and Nandigram MLA also wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah with the same request. The vandalism is alleged to have been aimed at destroying evidence related to the rape-murder of a doctor, whose body was found in the hospital’s seminar hall on August 9.

Adhikari said Goyal, a 1994-batch IPS officer, received the President’s Police Medal in 2013 and the Police Medal in 2023. He alleged that Goyal failed to act as Kolkata Police Commissioner when the vandalism occurred on the night of August 14.

Kolkata Police was handling the rape-murder probe until August 13, when the Calcutta High Court ordered the case to be transferred to the CBI.

Kolkata experienced a unique and powerful display of civic solidarity when residents turned off their lights for an hour from 9 pm on Wednesday and came down to the streets with burning candles to protest the murder of the doctor at RG Kar hospital and to express support for the deceased doctor’s family.

Kolkata Turns off Lights To Protest Against RG Kar Incident

Significant pockets across districts of West Bengal also witnessed spontaneous protests from citizens hitting roads late in the evening with burning torches, candles and even backlit mobile phones demanding justice for the RG Kar hospital victim.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which had called for the protest, titled the event ‘Let There Be Light, Let There Be Justice’ had planned it to coincide with the Supreme Court’s scheduled hearing in the rape-murder case on September 5.

The protesters demanded that the case, which is currently being heard by an apex court bench, be resolved expeditiously so that justice doesn’t get delayed any further. At 9 PM sharp, prominent landmarks such as the Victoria Memorial and Raj Bhavan, along with many homes across the city, its suburbs and districts, plunged into darkness as part of the protest.

Governor CV Ananda Bose also lit a candle at the Raj Bhavan and said, “When light is fear, darkness is dear.”

Large crowds gathered across the city, Howrah, and Salt Lake, taking to the streets with candles and mobile phone torches, chanting “We want justice” and demanding accountability for the alleged gruesome rape-murder of the trainee doctor.

(With inputs from agencies)