Kolkata rape-murder case: Vandalism at hospital was attempt to 'cover up truth', alleges CPI(M)

New Delhi: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday said the vandalism at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was an attempt to "cover up the truth", and called for ensuring justice to the woman trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at the health facility last week.

On Thursday early morning, a group of people vandalised the emergency department, nursing unit and medicine store, and damaged CCTV cameras as a large number of people, including medics, were protesting against the incident.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused opposition CPI(M) and BJP in the state of orchestrating vandalism at the hospital and attempting to obscure the truth behind the rape and murder of the trainee doctor by spreading fake news on social media.

In a post on X, Yechury said, "This vandalism on doctors protesting against the horrific rape and murder of a fellow doctor in RG Kar Medical College is a disgraceful attempt to silence justice and cover up the truth".

"We must stand together against such barbarism and ensure that justice is delivered," he said.

The CPI(M) in a post on X said no amount of repression or goondaism can suppress the people's demand for justice.

"What hospitals should be: A safe space for women to work. What hospitals have become under TMC government: A target for vandalism," the Left party said in another post.

CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, shared photographs of protests held in Kolkata on Saturday on X, and in a post said, "The battle for justice in the horrific RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case intensifies in West Bengal."

"The roar is getting louder. Thousands marched today from College Street to Shyambazar warning against any kind of cover-up and insisting on the delivery of real justice," he said.