RG Kar vandalism: Kolkata Police suspends two ACPs, one inspector for dereliction of duty

Kolkata, Aug 20 : Kolkata Police have suspended three police officers, two Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and one Inspector, on charges of dereliction of duty on August 15 when a group of anti-social elements from outside ransacked and vandalised the Emergency Department of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata.

All three officers were on duty at the hospital.

The ransacking incident took place when scores of people led by women took to the streets of Kolkata following the call of “Meyera, Rat Dakhal Karo’ (girls, reclaim the night) demanding justice for the junior doctor of the same hospital who became victims of the ghastly rape and murder, which led to complaints surfacing that the vandalism was conducted deliberately to divert attention from the spontaneous protest.

The decision of the city police authorities to suspend the three officers came hours after the Supreme Court earlier in the day raised serious questions on the role of the police in combating the vandalism on August 15.

On the night of the vandalism, the protesting medical students and junior doctors complained that the cops posted at the hospital premises remained mute spectators while the vandalism by the outsiders was going on.

Even on August 16, the Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal admitted flaws on the part of his forces on that night.

He admitted that the police could not apprehend that the peaceful agitation would suddenly become violent in front of R.G. Kar.

“That was our mistake. After the Deputy Commissioner (north) got injured being hit on his head, our forces personnel got disoriented and took time to recover. The police personnel also got injured. If you want to call it our failure, you can do that,” the Commissioner said on August 16.