Security has been heightened in Kolkata due to the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally on Tuesday (August 27), where students are now marching to the state secretariat, demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College earlier this month.
Kolkata Police had deployed over 6,000 personnel starting at 8 am, readied water cannons, and set up 19 barricades across the city. Drones were set to be in use for surveillance during the rally, News18 reported.
Around 1 pm, reports from ground zero stated that protestors had climbed over barricades and pulled some of them down. In some places, the police had used tear gas on the protesting individuals.
The police have stated that no permission was sought for the protest. State police have labelled the rallies as “illegal” and “unauthorised.” Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of BNSS have been imposed near Nabanna, preventing the assembly of five or more people.
The march, called by the unregistered Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj (West Bengal Students Community) and the Sangrami Joutha Mancha (Joint Platform of Struggle), an organisation of state government employees, has sparked concerns over potential disruptions.
Despite this, Governor CV Ananda Bose, in a video message released Monday evening, urged the state government not to use force to prevent the students from organising the rally.
Several educational institutions will either conduct online classes or observe a holiday on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday (August 26) conducted a second round of polygraph tests on former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh and five others as part of their investigation into the rape and murder of the doctor. The tests were conducted after Ghosh reportedly provided inconsistent answers during questioning over the past 10 days.
The CBI had earlier conducted polygraph tests on Ghosh and others on Saturday, followed by a test on the arrested accused Sanjay Roy at the Presidency Correctional Home on Sunday (August 25).
Ghosh and former hospital official Sanjay Vashisth are also under investigation for alleged financial irregularities at the institution.
With inputs from PTI
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