Chief Minister of India's West Bengal state Mamata Banerjee (centre) takes part in a protest rally to condemn the rape and murder of a doctor in her state's capital, Kolkata, on Friday. Indian doctors stepped up nationwide protests and strikes on August 16 after the rape and murder of a colleague, a brutal killing that has focused outrage on the chronic issue of violence against women. — AFP MUMBAI/KOLKATA, Aug 16 (Reuters/PTI): Police in the Indian state of West Bengal on Friday arrested hundreds of protesters angry over the rape and murder of a medic last week, while a doctors' association urged more than a million colleagues nationwide to stop work for a day.
Police and local officials said blockades by the protesters disrupted public transport in several parts of the state. More than 1,500 people were detained.
Political parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), also held demonstrations in the state capital Kolkata, the scene of the crime.
The victim, a 31-year-old doctor, was found dead last Friday on a blood-soaked mattress in the medical college where she worked in Kolkata. She had settled down for a nap in a college lecture hall after working for nearly 20 hours of a 36-hour shift, staff at the R. G. Kar Medical College told Reuters.
Anger at the failure of tough laws to deter a rising tide of violence against women has fuelled protests by doctors and women's groups.
On Thursday, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) called on doctors nationwide - a figure it estimates to exceed a million - to shut down all services except emergency departments for 24 hours from Saturday morning.
"Women form the majority of our profession in this country. Time and again, we have asked for safety for them," IMA President R. V. Asokan told Reuters.
The rape and murder have shocked the nation, with Bollywood actors, other celebrities and politicians all calling for stricter punishment for perpetrators of such crimes.
Meanwhile, a nurse of a private hospital in Uttarakhand’s Rudrapur was allegedly raped, killed and her body dumped in a vacant plot in an Uttar Pradesh village near the Uttarakhand border, police said on Friday.
Missing since July 30 while returning home from work, the nurse's body was recovered from Dibdiba village on August 8 with her face mutilated beyond recognition, Superintendent of Police of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar Manjunath TC said.
According to police, the accused, after committing the crime, looted all the money from her purse, her mobile phone and other valuables and fled.
The spot from where the nurse's body was recovered is not far from her residence in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district which is on the border of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district.
Police began an investigation into the case after the victim's sister lodged a missing complaint on July 31, a day after the incident. SSP Manjunath said the victim was traced with the help of CCTV footage and by tracking the location of her mobile phone.
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