Don’t have anything to hide: Mamata

Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asserted that her government will seek death penalty for the accused in the alleged sexual assault and murder of a woman postgraduate trainee doctor. Banerjee also said she has asked officials to ensure that the case be tried in a fast track court.

The body of the woman doctor was found inside the seminar hall of a government-run hospital in north Kolkata on Friday. A preliminary autopsy report has indicated sexual abuse before she was killed. The chief minister also said the protests and processions by junior doctors demanding exemplary punishment for the accused and enhanced security at hospitals were justified.

"I endorse the demands being made by the junior doctors," the Bengal CM told a Bengali news channel. Banerjee said the West Bengal government has no objection to an investigation into the case by any agency, including the CBI, if there is a demand for it.

"We do not have anything to hide in this case. The person arrested in the matter will be produced at a fast-track court. We will seek capital punishment for the guilty. But if the agitating students want a probe by another agency, we are not against it. If there is a CBI probe, we have no problem since we do not have anything to hide," Banerjee said.

Describing the incident as gruesome and despicable, she urged the junior doctors at various state-run hospitals to carry on giving healthcare services, while holding the protests. "I feel like losing someone in my family," Banerjee said. The CM said police camps had been set up in every hospital to prevent any assault on doctors. She also said superintendents/principals of hospitals and medical college hospitals have a responsibility of ensuring internal security at their respective facilities.

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