In response to the ongoing protests over the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata Police have enforced Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 144 of the CrPC), around the Medical College and Hospital for seven days, starting Sunday, August 18.
According to an order issued by Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal on Saturday, rallies, meetings, processions, dharnas, demonstrations, and the assembly of five or more people are prohibited in the designated area of Kolkata.
“In exercise of the power conferred by Sub-Section (1) of Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, read with Sub-Section (3) of the said Section, I, Vineet Kumar Goyal, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, being an Executive Magistrate for the Metropolitan area of Kolkata as well as the district of South 24 Parganas (within the limits of the suburbs of Kolkata falling under Kolkata police jurisdiction), do hereby prohibit, for a period of seven (7) days from 18.08.2024 to 24.08.2024, or until further notice, any unlawful assembly of five (5) or more persons, carrying of lathis, any lethal or other dangerous weapons, or the commission of any act likely to cause a breach of peace and disturbance of public tranquillity within the specified area in the town of Kolkata,” the order stated.
The imposition was made “in regard to inputs and information received from credible sources, indicating sufficient reasons for violent demonstrations, rallies, and meetings by a section of the public or an organisation, thereby causing a breach of peace, disturbance of public tranquillity, health or safety, danger to human life, and obstruction to doctors, nursing staff, medical staff, and lawfully employed persons in the said area,” the order stated.
On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was found raped and murdered while on duty at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, sparking nationwide strikes and protests by the medical community. On Wednesday, a mob vandalised the protest site and hospital campus at RG Kar, prompting security personnel to break up the crowd.