INDIA police have fired teargas and water cannons at thousands of protesters seeking justice for a female trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at a state-run hospital earlier this month.

On Tuesday, August 27, the protesters marched to the government building in Kolkata, demanding the resignation of West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee.

Chanting different slogans, the protesters clashed with police, who used batons to disperse the crowd.

Speaking to newsmen, one of the protesters, a university student, Namita Ghosh explained that they had intended to “protest peacefully” before the attack by the police.

Also, a senior police official anonymously told newsmen that about 100 protesters were arrested for “creating violence”.

The protest in India which has been lingering for a while now is followed a 31-year-old female trainee doctor raped and murdered while on duty at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

The outrage sheds light on the pervasiveness of sexual violence in the country and the women demanding the “independence to live in freedom and without fear”.

Similar to the situation in India, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Monday commenced a seven-day nationwide strike, demanding the release of a female doctor who has been held for eight months by kidnappers.

The doctor, Ganiyat Popoola, was kidnapped on the night of December 27, 2023, at the senior staff quarters of the National Eye Centre, Kaduna alongside her husband and nephew.

However, her husband was released in March this year, leaving her and the nephew in the kidnapper’s den.

The NARD president, Dele Abdullahi,  stated that “there will be no concessions, and there will be no emergency care,” while the strike lasted.