The mother of the RG Kar victim doctor was admitted to a premier private hospital along the EM Bypass after she was injured when police allegedly resorted to lathi charge during march to Nabanna.
The march on Saturday was in protest against the incident that happened exactly a year ago triggering people’s outrage and medics to cease work in hospitals across West Bengal and outside.
The protest was organised by the opposition BJP without carrying flags of the party. The parents of the victim also participated in the march demanding justice for their daughter.
Police resorted to lathi charge on protestors at Park Street when they, led by the Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, tried to break the barricades installed by the Kolkata Police.
Protestors clashed with huge police force deployed in the area. The parents of the victim today alleged that Kolkata Police assaulted them during the march to the state secretariat in Shibpur in Howrah city that met with severe violence.
The victim’s mother alleged she was manhandled, sustaining a swollen forehead from a probable police baton blow and broke her sankha (conch shell bangle), which is a traditional accessory for married Hindu women in Bengal.
Accompanied by about 30 supporters, the family moved towards Nabanna but were stopped near the Race Course.
She was rushed to the private hospital in the afternoon and underwent several investigations.
Mr Adhikari and other leaders of the saffron party visited her at the hospital to check on her health.
The father claimed police circulated their car number to all check posts and repeatedly tried to intercept them.
“We used cat-and-mouse tactics to reach Dorina Crossing,” he told television channels, adding that the Calcutta High Court had permitted a peaceful protest, yet multiple barricades were set up.
“Mamata will be destroyed. It is Mamata versus the people,” said the opposition leader, squatting on the roadside, after police stopped him en route to the state secretariat.
Earlier in the day, similar protests were reported across Kolkata, with calls for marches to both Nabanna and Kalighat.
Police and protesters clashed at several points as the Opposition-backed mobilisation against the R G Kar incident intensified.
Despite the blockades, Abhaya’s parents vowed they would reach Nabanna “at any cost.”