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Junior doctors in several parts of Uttar Pradesh are on the warpath over the 'cold-blooded killing' of a post-graduate medical student by the police in Mathura district on Tuesday night.
Twenty-six-year-old Dr Sonali Bose was returning to Agra after a late night meal at the McDonalds outlet on the Agra-Mathura highway on Tuesday night when she fell victim to a police bullet.
Dr Bose, who hailed from Kolkata, was pursuing her post-graduation in surgery from the Agra-based Sarojini Naidu Medical College, one of the oldest medical institutions in India.
She was reportedly shot dead by the cops after she and her companion Dr Anurag Dhingra refused to be questioned by a police patrol on the Agra-Mathura highway.
"On noticing the black Maruti Esteem car parked at a deserted spot near the highway, some local villagers informed the highway police patrol," Mathura District Magistrate Rama Kant Shukla told rediff.com over the telephone.
"Suspecting the occupants to be anti-social elements, the cops sought to question them. When the occupants refused to roll down the windows, one of the cops hit the glass with his rifle," he added.
"At this, Anurag decided to speed off only to find a bullet hitting his companion from behind," Shukla said.
"The policemen were aiming at the car tyres but hit the occupant by mistake," he added.
Dr Dhingra drove the car at break-neck speed to the medical college's emergency ward, where Sonali was pronounced 'brought dead'.
"We have taken punitive action against the entire police patrol team but cannot proceed any further till completion of the magisterial inquiry," Shukla said.
Doctors refuse to believe the police version that the incident was a case of 'mistaken identity'.
Agitating doctors, who have called for a statewide strike, are demanding the arrest of the policemen concerned and registration of murder cases against all members of the police patrol team that gunned down the young lady doctor.
"Mere suspension of 11 cops is not enough. They must be put behind bars for cold-blooded murder," Rohit Prasad, president of the Uttar Pradesh Junior Doctors Association, told rediff.com in Lucknow on Thursday.
The strike is bound to paralyse services in the six state-run medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh.
Admitting that the incident was 'unfortunate', Shukla said, "The two friends may have been spending a few quiet moments together, but they should have been more cautious as that area is crime prone."
"Recent incidents of highway robberies may had led the cops to be extra cautious, and that eventually led to the tragedy," he said.
Agra District Magistrate Mahesh Gupta also said that the incident was the outcome of the extra vigil being maintained by the police on account of a few incidents of crime on the highway.
Vinay Singh, president of the Agra Medical College Junior Doctors Association, however, charged the police of cooking up stories to save their skin.
"We are not going to relent unless the guilty cops are arrested and tried for murder," he told mediapersons in Agra.
He termed the incident as an extreme case of 'police high-handedness'.
Pointed out that this was not the first incident of its kind, he cited the example of another young couple who had been gunned down a few months back by the police in similar circumstances in Meerut district.
"The area is infested with bandits, who are even known to be operating under the garb of policemen. So it was understandable that they did not stop the vehicle," said a member of the Sarojini Naidu Medical College Junior Doctors Association.
After news broke out of the incident, junior doctors went on the rampage, damaging hospital property and calling for an indefinite strike.
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