The Supreme Court hearing into the RG Kar rapemurder, scheduled on Thursday, has been deferred as the “Hon’ble Chief Justice of India will not be holding the Court”, according to a notice issued by the assistant registrar general.
It is still not clear when the case would be heard next, said Sanjay Basu, senior standing counsel for Bengal govt in Supreme Court.
Despite that, at the stroke of 9 on Wednesday evening, the lights went out across the city. From Sodepur in the northern suburbs to Jadavpur and beyond in the south, people poured out onto the streets to demand justice for the young doctor who was found raped and murdered on Aug 9, almost amonth ago.
At protest gatherings, people held hands to form human chains, the resolve on their faces only visible by the flickering candlelight. At housing complexes, residents voluntarily gave up their favourite prime-time television to make their voices heard. The lights came back on after an hour, but the ‘Reclaim the Night’ protests continued late into the night.
At the heart of the protests on the RG Kar campus, the parents of the 31-year-old PGT doctor joined in.
The last time they were on the campus was on Aug 9 when, after a seven-hour wait, they had taken their daughter’s body back to a crematorium, in ahearse. “I wish to see all the culprits lose sleep, as I have lost mine,” the mother said, breaking down.
A protesting junior doctor on the RG Kar campus vowed to “be on the street” till all their demands were fulfilled. “We have no choice but to trust the judiciary,” he said.