India’s top police take over medic murder probe

NEW DELHI: India´s top police agency on Wednesday took over investigations into the brutal rape and murder of young medic, a killing that has sparked outrage and fellow doctors to go on strike.

The 31-year-old woman´s brutalised body was found last week in a state-run hospital in West Bengal´s Kolkata, where she was a resident doctor.

A subsequent autopsy confirmed sexual assault and homicide. In a petition to the court, the victim´s parents have said that they suspected their daughter was gang-raped, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV.

Doctors in government hospitals across several states have halted elective services “indefinitely”, demanding speedy justice and better workplace security. While police have detained a man who worked at the victim´s hospital helping people navigate busy queues, officers have been accused of alleged mishandling of the case.

Kolkata´s High Court on Tuesday transferred the case to the elite Central Bureau of Investigation to “inspire public confidence”.

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India -- an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4 billion people. The gruesome nature of the attack have invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder of a young on a Delhi bus. The woman became a symbol of the socially conservative country´s failure to tackle sexual violence against women.