Thousands of people on Wednesday joined the mega protest rally organised by the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF), in support of their demands over the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor at R G Kar Medical College & Hospital.

Besides common people, celebrities from the cultural and silver screen world also participated in the rally, expressing solidarity towards the cause of the protesting doctors.

The forum deliberately chose Wednesday as the day of the protest rally since the twin occasions of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and Mahalaya Amavasya (A significant day in Hinduism for performing rituals to honour ancestors) coincide on that day.

The rally started from College Square crossing and ended at Esplanade in central Kolkata. On Wednesday, a WBJDF representative specifically laid out the condition for withdrawal of their ongoing cease-work agitation that resumed on Tuesday.

“The first of our 10 demands is relating to the protracted judicial process to ensure justice for the rape & murder of the victim. The fulfillment of this demand depends on the CBI and the Supreme Court. However, the remaining nine demands depend on how serious the West Bengal government is in accepting them. If the state government gives a written order on fulfilling these nine demands, we will immediately withdraw our cease-work while continuing with our protests,” said the WBJDF representative.

One representative at the rally said battle lines had been drawn – the medics on one side and the government on the other. He also questioned the CBI probe saying the central agency is still to fix the puzzle in the rape and murder probe and in such a situation should they abandon their struggle midway, there is every possibility that the probe would fizzle out.

The other demands include the immediate removal of the state health secretary, introduction of a centralised referral system and digital bed vacancy monitor, task forces based on each college, with elected representation of junior doctors, increased police protection in hospitals, filling up of vacant posts of doctors, nursing staff and health workers and setting up of inquiry committees in every medical college to investigate those involved in threat syndicates and punish them. An inquiry committee must also be formed at the state level, immediate elections for student councils in every medical college and immediate enquiry into rampant corruption and lawlessness inside the West Bengal Medical Council and West Bengal Health Recruitment Board.