Hours after the Calcutta High Court pulled up the West Bengal government and the police over the vandalism of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where a trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered last week, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal has admitted that there was an "assessment failure".
Women in Kolkata and many other parts of the country had organised a vigil, calling it 'women, reclaim the night' on Wednesday. During the vigil, which began around 11 pm, some people entered the premises of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and went on a rampage. Vehicles were attacked, public property was damaged and the police had to resort to a lathicharge as well as firing teargas shells to control the situation.
The Kolkata Police said 15 policemen were injured and 25 people have been arrested so far.
On Friday, when Mr Goyal was asked about the vandalism and why it couldn't be prevented, he said, "It was a leaderless crowd, anticipating and assessing how many people would gather in one place was difficult. We had to spread ourselves thin. There were many women there and we had to keep their safety in mind; some of the people who have been arrested include women. So we had to be restrained in our response. We could not be using force left, right and centre, just like that. There was sufficient deployment and officers were there, trying to keep the crowd in check."
"Despite that, the barricade was breached and people got into the hospital and vandalised the place. We have 15 people who were injured badly," the police commissioner added.
Mr Goyal, however, strongly defended the police's investigation into the rape and murder and accused "so-called experts" of creating narratives.
"Far too many rumours are floating around, which have no basis. And, based on these, so-called experts are trying to say that Kolkata Police has not done this, or it was a gang-rape by so many people. Evidence has to be scientific in nature. The case is now with the CBI, let's trust the agency investigating the case. They will also come up with evidence. Whatever we had to do in whatever little time we had was done," he said.
Mr Goyal said the CBI would find out if there was any destruction of evidence by the Kolkata Police and the force would be liable for legal action if there was anything that was done wrong.
"Why are people so impatient? Have faith in the new investigating agency. Why is this rumour-mongering going on... Our officers are cooperating with the agency. We have tried to be as transparent as possible," he stressed.
How Will Doctors Work Fearlessly?
Earlier on Friday, the Calcutta High Court rapped the Bengal government and the police and said that a mob going on the rampage in the hospital was an "absolute failure of state machinery".
"Normally police has an intelligence wing... similar things happened on Hanuman Jayanti. If 7,000 are to gather, it is hard to believe police did not know... This is an absolute failure of state machinery... So they (the police) couldn't protect their own men? A sorry state of affairs. How will doctors there work fearlessly?" the bench fumed.
The court also asked for photographic evidence that the seminar room, where the 31-year-old was raped and murdered, was not vandalised.
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