RG Kar tragedy: 'Drunk' youth arrested for misbehaving with women protesters

Kolkata, Sep 1 (IANS) A youth, who was allegedly drunk, was arrested on late Sunday evening for misbehaving with women protesters at a site in central Kolkata where a sit-in demonstration to condemn the ghastly rape and murder of a junior woman doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata earlier this month, is underway.

Those assembled at the protest site included representatives from the medical fraternity including junior doctors and medical students, members of the civil society and some representatives from the Bengali silver screen world like Swastika Mukhopadhyay, Sohini Sarkar, and Usashi Chakraborty, among others.

The protesters first led a march to Esplanade and then began the sit-in-demonstration which is supposed to continue till 4 a.m. on Monday.

Eye-witnesses said that suddenly that youth in a drunken state, came near the dais of the sit-in demonstration and started misbehaving with the women demonstration using abusive words. However, he was promptly nabbed by the volunteers and handed over to the Kolkata Police. The accused youth was first taken to a nearby police kiosk and from there he was taken to a nearby police station.

However, what has surprised everyone is the silence of the city police in revealing the identity of the youth or disclosing the police station where he was taken.

Usashi Chakraborty told media persons that when a drunken person could barge into a protest site and misbehave with the women demonstrators, it is easily understandable how safe the city is now for women.

“Some of those who were passing by the demonstration’s dais were too excited and they were about to assault the drunken youth. However, we persuaded them not to take the law into their hands. We isolated him and handed him over to the cops,” said a volunteer who had taken a lead role in nabbing the accused youth.

–IANS

src/vd