Protest for Justice in New York City
Amit Guha
The world’s most visited place remained a testimony to an unprecedented event of Global Protest that has spread like a wildfire in 156 cities globally. As the crowd, mostly Bengalis, grew in numbers, the protesters coming from multiple regions of New York and New Jersey, aging from seven to eighty years, vehemently shared their frustration at the delayed judicial process concerning this grave matter of the crime and the related incidents that followed.
The protest at Times Square, New York on 8th September reflected an outpour of human feelings and sentiments demanding justice for a heinous crime committed against a female doctor at R. G. Kar Medical Hospital, a well known government hospital in the heart of Kolkata. She was raped and murdered in the middle of the night at her own place of work and that too while she was on duty … saving patients’ lives.
In the opinion of general public, this inhuman atrocity was done by a group of doctors at the hospital supported by the college principal, who is currently in CBI custody for financial irregularities.
The crux of the protest was in the demand for proper justice for the crime, a strict verdict against the alleged college principal, the removal of Police Chief of Kolkata for his callous, improper and unprofessional approach in crime investigations and in subjugating people who have been staging protest in Kolkata. It was clearly an obstruction of justice. Furthermore, people claim that the Chief of Police have acted at the behest of the CM, the current Chief Minster of West Bengal, who is aware of the miscreants and is protecting them for some odd reasons. This is a protest that got initiated in Kolkata and crossed nations boundaries and garnered support from overseas Indians, especially Bengalis.
Citing one of the protesters from Queens …
“Tilottoma was of my daughter’s age. Although, she was unknown to us, yet in remembrance it fills my heart with tears. It isn’t only me … it happened to all of us. But why is this outpour? … it’s the answer that we don’t have. Could it be a manifestation of our emotional distress?
Tilottoma was a daughter to her parents, a sister to some, a doctor to her patients and a smiling colleague to her mates … and that’s the past. Now, Tilottoma is within all wrenched soul. We are grief stricken by her untimely death … It was all too soon and sudden.
Her reported death was cruel, unjustified, and gruesome … we are here to protest against this ghastly crime and demanding justice from the Indian court of law.
The public outcry has evolved into a global protest …an unprecedented mass protest.
New York is 10,000 miles away from Kolkata, still the news have affected people here so deep that it forced us to meet here collectively, show our solidarity and voice our sincere concern. It has been a month since this incident happened on 8th August midnight, but no conclusion has been reached till date and people, especially Bengalis across the world, are frustrated.
We reach out to all of our junior and senior doctors in Kolkata, the medical doctors in India to convey our continued support to this protest wholeheartedly and share their pain within. Our salute the Youth Student Organization who initiated this protest with spontaneity and without any political agenda. It is their sheer overwhelming protest to claim proper Justice, and we support it fully.
Tilottoma is not here with us anymore, but her untimely death has ignited the fire within each of us. It is an inspiration to us all to stand for our right, and rightly so … the right to live and our right to get proper justice. She inspired us to hold our head high, and not to flinch from the truth and not to bow down to lies and treachery and not to be spineless in this process. It’s our fight, a global fight for human race and a daunting task that’s ahead of us to fulfill as a morally bound citizen.”
Others echoed their voices too in their short speeches while some vented their feelings by dancing on the open terrace at the red stairs at Times Square to display the creative act of revolting against this crime, a whole group of people sang the songs of life and of struggle, and some depicted their views through their artwork in painting the grotesque picture of the victim, the deceased soul whose faced is now etched in the minds of people all across the world.
This protest in New York was an indication of upcoming cultural and social revolution and was a true reflection of human spirit all over the world and of human beliefs in social justice. The protest said loud and clear that we are here now and we will be here tomorrow till we see the end to the real life drama of social injustice. Long live humanity as we all chant as this world is of the people, for the people and by the people.
