Playback singer Shreya Ghoshal has postponed her Kolkata concert amid an ongoing protest in the city over the rape and murder of a young trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital earlier this month.
The concert, a part of the All Hearts Tour, was scheduled for September 14 but will now be moved to a new date in October.
The National Award-winning singer, taking to her Instagram handle, said she was "deeply affected by the gruesome and heinous incident". "Being a woman myself, the very thought of the sheer brutality that she must have gone through is unthinkable and sends shivers down my spine," she wrote.
The 40-year-old asserted that it was "absolutely imperative for me to take a stand and join you all in solidarity".
The body of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar hall of the government-run hospital on August 9. She was brutalised during her 36-hour shift. A civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, Sanjay Roy, had been arrested in the case.
"I sincerely pray for the respect and safety of the women in this world, not just our country," Ms Ghoshal said.
She also informed that the current tickets will remain valid for the new date.
The rape-murder incident triggered nationwide outrage and protests, reigniting the issue of women's safety. The weeks after the heinous incident saw country-wide strikes by resident doctors, seeking justice for their colleague and stricter laws to stop violence against doctors.
They went back to work following an intervention by the Supreme Court on August 22. The court assured them that it would prevail upon authorities not to take adverse action against the striking doctors, who had been protesting over the Kolkata doctor's rape and murder case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI is probing the case after the Calcutta High Court directed it to take over the investigation from the Kolkata Police on August 13.
