'Parents pleaded before them...': Kolkata rape-murder case victim's family recounts seeing daughter's body in hospital, demands justice

Family members of the 31-year-old trainee doctor, who was raped and murdered at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, shared gut wrenching details of their ordeal after they informed about the incident. 

They said in a recent interview that the hospital authorities told them that their daughter died by suicide. The victim's relatives mentioned that they were made to wait for three hours outside the hospital before they could see her body.

The father of the 31-year-old deceased said that when he got the dreaded call, he knew something had happened to his daughter. Pointing towards his wife, he told Lallantop, India Today TV's sister channel: "She started crying. They said our daughter has died by suicide and we must come immediately."

Assistant Superintendent of RG Kar Hospital's Chest Medicine Wing was the first one to inform the victim's family about the incident. He told them that she died by suicide inside the hospital premises. He further urged all the politicians and other officials visiting the family to give justice to their deceased daughter.

"Our daughter cannot be returned to us, but we can at least seek justice for her," the victim's father said. 

One of the relatives, who went to the hospital with the parents, said the victim's mother was inconsolable. The relative added they were made to wait outside for three hours when they reached the hospital. 

"The parents pleaded before them to show them their daughter's face. But still they were made to wait for three hours," the relative told Lallantop.

She recalled the horrid condition in which the trainee doctor's body was found when the father was allowed to go inside after three hours. 

"He was only allowed to click a picture, which he showed us when he came outside. She had no clothes on her body. Her legs were 90 degrees apart... this cannot happen unless the pelvic girdle breaks, which means she was torn apart," she recounted. 

She mentioned that the victim's spectacles were broken and there were shards of glass in her eyes, while adding the victim was choked to death. 

The relative's account concurs with the findings of the four-page postmortem report of the trainee doctor. As per this report, the doctor was strangled to death due to which her thyroid cartilage was broken.

Injuries were also found on her belly, lips, fingers and left leg. The postmortem report mentioned that the woman was bleeding from her eyes, mouth and private parts.

It noted that the wounds in her private parts were a result of "perverted sexuality" and "genital torture". The cause for her eye wound has, however, not been determined so far. 

Meanwhile, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) representatives met Union Health Minister JP Nadda. Following this meeting, they called off their strike over the alleged rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata. 

"A key outcome of the meeting was the health minister's agreement to form a committee with FORDA's involvement to work on the Central Protection Act. The ministry has assured that work on this will begin within the next 15 days," FORDA said in a statement released late Tuesday night.

As per the federation, this committee will focus on the timely implementation of the Act aimed at a safer working environment for medical personnel. Meetings will begin in two weeks wherein a FORDA delegation will also participate. 

However, the doctors at the central government-run AIIMS, the Indira Gandhi Hospital and other resident doctors' associations including the Federationn of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) said their protest would continue until a central law to curb attacks on medical personnel is implemented and a concrete solution is in place.