NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court ordered all doctors protesting over the rape and murder of a female medic last month to resume work by Tuesday, warning they may face “adverse action” if they failed to adhere to the deadline.
Hundreds of doctors nationwide have stayed off work as they demand justice for the woman, whose body was found on Aug. 9 in a classroom at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, in the eastern state of West Bengal, where she was a trainee.
A police volunteer was arrested for the crime and federal police said last week that the former principal of the college had also been arrested for alleged graft.
Doctors have also been demanding better amenities in government-run hospitals, which they say lack security and basic infrastructure such as resting spaces for staff.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that no adverse action would be taken against doctors who returned to work by Tuesday evening.
“The resident doctors cannot be oblivious to the needs of the general community whom they are intended to serve,” said Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, heading a three-judge bench of the court.
The court also directed the West Bengal government to take steps to assure doctors of their concerns being addressed, including by providing separate duty rooms and toilets for male and female personnel, and installing CCTV cameras.
Demonstrations over the attack spread beyond India’s borders over the weekend, as thousands of diaspora Indians protested in more than 130 cities across 25 countries, including Japan, Australia, Europe, and the US
The court, which took up the matter of its own accord following outrage over the incident, had earlier formed a hospital safety task force to recommend steps to ensure the safety of medical workers.
Women’s rights activists say the incident has highlighted how women continue to face sexual violence in India despite tougher laws being introduced after the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman in a moving bus in Delhi.
India’s top court orders protesting doctors to resume work by Tuesday
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India’s top court orders protesting doctors to resume work by Tuesday
- Hundreds of doctors nationwide have stayed off work as they demand justice for the rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor in Kolkata
- A police volunteer was arrested for the crime and federal police said former principal of the college had also been arrested for alleged graft
Mali, Burkina say restricting entry for US nationals in reciprocal move
- Both countries said they are applying the same measures on American nationals as imposed on them
ABIDJAN: Mali and Burkina Faso have announced travel restrictions on American nationals in a tit-for-tat move after the US included both African countries on a no-entry list.
In statements issued separately by both countries’ foreign ministries and seen Wednesday by AFP, they said they were imposing “equivalent measures” on US citizens, after President Donald Trump expanded a travel ban to nearly 40 countries this month, based solely on nationality.
That list included Syrian citizens, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, and nationals of some of Africa’s poorest countries including also Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan.
The White House said it was banning foreigners who “intend to threaten” Americans.
Burkina Faso’s foreign ministry said in the statement that it was applying “equivalent visa measures” on Americans, while Mali said it was, “with immediate effect,” applying “the same conditions and requirements on American nationals that the American authorities have imposed on Malian citizens entering the United States.”
It voiced its “regret” that the United States had made “such an important decision without the slightest prior consultation.”
The two sub-Saharan countries, both run by military juntas, are members of a confederation that also includes Niger.
Niger has not officially announced any counter-measures to the US travel ban, but the country’s news agency, citing a diplomatic source, said last week that such measures had been decided.
In his December 17 announcement, Trump also imposed partial travel restrictions on citizens of other African countries including the most populous, Nigeria, as well as Ivory Coast and Senegal, which qualified for the football World Cup to be played next year in the United States as well as Canada and Mexico.
