Family of murdered Calcutta doctor says police forced her to cremate

By Subrata Nag Choudhury

KOLKATA (Reuters) – The father of the doctor raped and murdered in Calcutta, India, said late on Wednesday that police had pressured the family to cremate the doctor, even though she wanted to keep her body for some time.

Kolkata police officials did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

The August 9 attack at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sparked nationwide protests, with people demanding justice for the doctor-in-training who was killed in a classroom where she was resting during a grueling 36-hour shift.

A volunteer police officer was arrested for the crime and is in custody.

The protesters are also demanding better security in government hospitals, which they say lack basic amenities such as rest rooms for doctors, surveillance cameras and security personnel.

“We wanted to keep our daughter’s body, but we were put under tremendous pressure and the body was cremated,” the woman’s father said as he joined protesting doctors outside the college on Wednesday evening.

He also claimed that a senior police officer took him aside and offered him money when his daughter’s body was brought home after an autopsy and before cremation.

“I told him my opinion and refused to accept money,” he said, without giving any details about why he was offered the money.

The officer accused of making the offer did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment. The victim’s name cannot be disclosed under local law.

West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said on Thursday that the government would not conduct a post-mortem on the parents’ comments.

“We respect the family’s statement. They have lost their daughter,” she said at a press conference. She also called on the federal police, who took over the investigation last month, to conclude the investigation quickly and “bring the truth to light.”

Reuters reported earlier this week that the West Bengal government had promised in 2019 to take measures to improve safety in the state’s hospitals, but had failed to follow through.

The federal police have also arrested the former principal of RG Kar Medical College, his close associate and two suppliers of hospital supplies on suspicion of corruption.

The incident has drawn renewed attention to the lack of safety for women in India. Activists say women continue to face sexual violence despite stricter laws following the gang rape and murder of a woman on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012.

(Written by Sakshi Dayal; edited by Philippa Fletcher)