Family of slain Kolkata doctor says police rushed them into cremation

By Subrata Nag Choudhury

KOLKATA (Reuters) - The father of the doctor who was raped and murdered in India's Kolkata city said late Wednesday night that police rushed the family into cremating her even though they wanted to keep her body for some time.

Officers from Kolkata police did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The Aug. 9 attack at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital had triggered nationwide protests as people demanded justice for the trainee doctor, who was killed in a classroom where she was resting during a gruelling 36-hour shift.

A police volunteer has been arrested for the crime and is in judicial custody.

Protesters are also demanding better security at government hospitals that they say lack basic amenities like resting rooms for doctors, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and security personnel.

"We wanted to keep the body of our daughter but extraordinary pressure was mounted on us and the body was cremated," the woman's father said as he joined doctors protesting at the college on Wednesday night.

He also alleged that a senior police officer had taken him aside and offered him money when his daughter's body was brought home after an autopsy and before cremation.

"I gave him a piece of my mind and refused to take any money," he said, without specifying why the money was offered.

The officer accused of making the offer did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment. The victim cannot be named under local laws.

West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said on Thursday that the government would not conduct a "postmortem" of the parents' comments.

"We respect what the family is saying, they have lost their daughter," she said at a media briefing where she also urged the federal police, who took over the probe last month, to conclude the investigation quickly and "reveal the truth".

Reuters reported earlier this week that the West Bengal government had, in 2019, promised to take measures to ensure better security at hospitals in the state, but failed to implement these on the ground.

The federal police has also arrested the former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College, his close aide, and two vendors of hospital supplies for alleged graft.

The incident has once again put the spotlight on the lack of safety for women in India, who activists say continue to suffer sexual violence despite tougher laws being introduced after the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman in a moving bus in Delhi.

(Writing by Sakshi Dayal; editing by Philippa Fletcher)