Kolkata puja pandal features installation symbolising RG Kar rape victim

As protests continue over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital, a Durga Puja committee has erected an installation of Goddess Durga hiding her face with her hands and the body of a woman, depicted as the trainee doctor lying down in front of the Goddess and wrapped in a white cloth.
The theme of the pandal is called ‘Lajja’ or shame and the Goddess Durga installation was erected as a mark of protest against the rape-murder of the trainee doctor, whose body was found in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
The installation, placed next to the main idol of Goddess Durga, shows her hiding her face with her hands to depict her being terrorised on seeing the atrocities against women. The majestic lion, considered Goddess Durga’s strongest animal, has its head hung down in shame while the body of a woman, depicted as the trainee doctor, lies in front of the Goddess and is wrapped in a white cloth.
Next to the installation is a doctor’s coat with a stethoscope hung around it and a box with a Rs 500 note stuck on it.

The theme was created by puja organiser Biswajit Sarkar, whose brother Abhijit Sarkar, a BJP leader, was killed in the post-poll violence in 2021 in West Bengal. The violence occurred after the Trinamool Congress won for a third consecutive time in the state Assembly polls.
“We are protesting against the RG Kar rape and murder incident. As a symbolic protest, Goddess Durga is hiding her face with her hands as she is not able to see the violence against women. Her lion, which is her strongest animal, hangs its head in shame. It is not only just the RG Kar victim, but this installation symbolises the atrocities against women in West Bengal,” Biswajit Sarkar, who was also associated with the BJP, told India Today TV.
Biswajit Sarkar said the box or ‘bhandar’ placed next to Goddess Durga is a symbolic dig at the West Bengal government’s scheme Lakshmi Bhandar, a financial aid programme for women.
“Under Mamata Banerjee’s rule, post-poll violence, rapes and murders are happening. No woman is safe here. These welfare schemes are there just to divert the attention of people from the actual realities. People who go out to vote should keep in mind about women’s safety and violence,” he added.
He alleged that police were corrupt and filing false FIRs to submit in court to allow the accused to go scot-free.
“The state government should mend its ways. If tomorrow, something happens to a person in your family, what will you do? You will go to the police. You (Mamata Banerjee) are saying the court will give justice. But, in reality, police are corrupt and filing FIRs so that the accused are released soon,” Biswajit Sarkar said.
Earlier on Tuesday, protesting junior doctors in West Bengal resumed their indefinite ‘total cease work’ to press for various demands, including ensuring their safety and security at all medical establishments following the trainee doctor’s rape and murder at RG Kar hospital on August 9.
On Thursday, the doctors held a meeting to decide their future course of action after a section of senior medics urged them to reconsider their ‘complete cease work’ in light of the sufferings of ordinary patients.
Although the doctors had partially resumed services after 42 days of the strike, they went back to cease work, alleging that key demands such as enhanced safety measures for medical staff were not implemented.