Senior doctors, who supported the junior resident doctors’ movement for the past five weeks, said the juniors are slowly returning to work. Dr. Tapas Pramanick, a medical officer at RGKMCH who took up additional work for the past 42 days to support his protesting juniors, said, “Doctors want to work and see patients. If they are sitting on the road in protest, it is only because we have our backs against the wall and have no option but to fight.”

Only essential services have resumed. These services differ for each department. All departments have been instructed to produce an SOP (standard operating procedure) for work until all the services resume,” said Dr. Hassan Mustaq, a postgraduate doctor from RGKMCH.

Dr. Seth said the doctors are now looking out for each other more than before since they have not yet recovered from the trauma of losing their peer at RGKMCH to rape and murde

We were all women on duty last night (Friday, September 20), we were all a little uncomfortable though we were not vocal about it. My seniors kept telling me not to get out of the room if I felt threatened.”

The junior doctors rejoined their duties in essential and emergency services at all State-run hospitals but not in the outpatient departments (OPDs)

On Saturday morning as the junior doctors resumed work in State run hospitals, the State government hurriedly wiped off slogans and graffiti from the streets and walls around the protest venue of doctors outside Swasthya Bhawan, the headquarters of State Health Department. This move also evoked some criticism, with people saying that while the slogans can be whitewashed from the streets of the metropolis, the courage and the hope it has given to them will make them continue to strive for justice.

The demonstration and the underlying anger have dampened the spirit of utsav (festivities) in the annual Durga Puja carnival scheduled from two weeks from now. Not only scores of Durga Puja organisers have refused the financial support from the State government but they have announced that the Puja this year will be a low-key affair. The call by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to return to festivities has also generated criticism from the people that they will not do so till justice is delivered to the bereaved family of the lady doctor.

the rape and murder at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital shook the confidence of people and people found courage and the spine to protests. Not only the protesting doctors but people from all walks of life have defied all attempts to impose restrictions imposed by the state on protests. The demonstrations have also been democratic and peaceful, often choosing the time of protests carefully when commuters will not face traffic bottlenecks because of the assembly and shunning any kind of violence.

Civil rights activists also point out even though Kolkata and rest of the State have been very sensitive to political movements for the past several years, they have looked the other way when several other crimes including political violence and even sexual assault on women took place. There was no clamour for justice rape of a woman in a moving car at Park Street in 2012 and the survivor died without much noise in 2015. Last year there was an acquittal and also commutation of death sentence in the Kamduni gangrape and murder of 2013, where a college student was brutalised to death in the northern fringes of the city. The acquittal and commutation of the death sentence failed to evoke any public protest much like several other incidents of sexual assault in recent past.

She pointed out that the participation of women in the protests have been very spontaneous and the anger among women against different kinds of sexual abuse which they experience in their every day lives spilled on the streets.