Kolkata rape-murder: Harbhajan Singh expresses 'deep anguish over delay in justice' in open letter to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Indian spin legend Harbhajan Singh wrote an open letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor CV Ananda Bose on Sunday, expressing “deep anguish over delay in justice” in the horrific rape-murder of a young trainee-doctor in Kolkata and urging them to “act swiftly and decisively”.

The grisly rape-murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor on 9 August at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has led to massive protests not only in the West Bengal capital but across the nation. The New Delhi-based Indian Medical Association (IMA) had called for a nationwide 24-hour doctors' strike that began early morning on Saturday.

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Reacting to the incident, former India cricketer Harbhajan called for the perpetrators of the alleged crime to face the harshest punishment possible under Indian criminal law to “restore faith” in the system.

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“With deep anguish over delay in justice to the Kolkata rape and murder victim, the incident which had shaken the conscience of all of us, I have penned a heartfelt plea to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal , Ms. @MamataOfficial Ji and Hon’ble @BengalGovernor urging them to act swiftly and decisively,” Harbhajan wrote in the caption of his post on microblogging platform X that was accompanied with images of his letter to the West Bengal CM and Governor.

“The safety and dignity of women are non-negotiable. The perpetrators of this heinous crime must face the full weight of the law, and the punishment must be exemplary. Only then can we begin to restore faith in our system and ensure that such a tragedy never occurs again and we create a society where every woman feels safe and protected. We must ask ourselves—if not now, when? I feel, the time for action is now,” ‘Bhajji’ added.

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With deep anguish over delay in justice to the Kolkata rape and murder victim, the incident which had shaken the conscience of all of us, I have penned a heartfelt plea to the Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal , Ms. @MamataOfficial Ji and Hon'ble @BengalGovernor urging them… pic.twitter.com/XU9SuYFhbY

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) August 18, 2024

The semi-naked body of the trainee doctor was discovered in the seminar hall of the medical college that is located in the Belgachia area of Kolkata. City police had initially claimed she had died by suicide before confirming that she was indeed raped and murdered.

Read | Doctor's diary & notepad hold key in Kolkata rape-murder case; accused to undergo psychological analysis

The Chief Minister Banerjee had recently stated that Kolkata Police has completed “90 per cent” of their probe into the incident, and asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — which had taken over the investigation on Wednesday, 14 August — to hang the culprit by Sunday.

Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police’s Disaster Management Group who was later assigned to a police outpost at the hospital, is the prime accused in the case and was seen entering the emergency building at 4 am on the day of the incident.