NEW DELHI — Indian health care workers launched a nationwide strike on Saturday to protest the rape and murder of a medical intern at a public hospital in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Saturday’s strike was called by the Indian Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors’ organisation, and it said all non-essential services in hospitals across the country would be stopped for 24 hours.
The shutdowns have affected thousands of patients across India, and protests calling for safer working conditions, mainly led by women, have intensified in recent days.
Here’s what you need to know:
A medical intern was murdered
On August 9, police found the bloodied body of a 31-year-old medical intern in a seminar hall at the RG Kal Medical College and Hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata.
A police volunteer working at the hospital was detained in connection with the incident, but the victim’s family claims it was a gang rape and that other people were involved. A post-mortem examination confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted.
Veterinary students light candles in protest in Guwahati, India, on Saturday. Anupam Nath/AP
The case is being investigated by federal investigators after state officials were accused of improperly conducting the investigation.
Thousands of women across the country took to the streets on Wednesday night to protest and take part in “Take Back the Night” demonstrations, demanding justice for the victims. Some protesters called for the death penalty to be imposed on the perpetrators of the crime.
Protesters demand justice and safety
Thousands of health workers across India are demanding justice for victims and guarantees of safety for doctors and paramedics in hospitals and health facilities. Many of them have stopped providing all but emergency care, and more similar strikes are planned for the weekend.
Doctors hold up protest posters in Vijayawada on August 14. Idrees Mohammed/AFP via Getty Images
Doctors say the attack highlights the vulnerability of doctors working in hospitals and health facilities across India without proper safety equipment.
The Indian Medical Association called for public support in its “struggle for justice” and called the killing a “barbaric crime occasioned by lack of safe spaces for women.”
Doctors are also calling for stricter laws to protect them from violence, including making any attack on a doctor while on duty a non-bailable offence.
India has a history of sexual violence against women
Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India.
In India, many crimes against women go unreported because of the stigma surrounding sexual violence and lack of trust in the police. Women’s rights activists say the problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where communities may shame victims of sexual assault and families may worry about their social status.
A clay statue of a doctor depicting a rape-murder victim in Kolkata on Saturday. Divyansh Sarkar / AFP via Getty Images
Still, the number of recorded rape cases in the country is on the rise: In 2022, police recorded 31,516 rape cases, a 20% increase over 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
The 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus sparked mass protests across India, prompting lawmakers to order tougher penalties for such crimes and set up specialized fast-track courts for rape cases. The government also introduced the death penalty for repeat offenders.
A 2013 amendment to the rape law also criminalised stalking and voyeurism, and lowered the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16.
