India court orders medical safety task force after doctor rape protests

NEW DELHI: India´s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for healthcare workers after the “horrific” rape and murder of a doctor sparked medical strikes and furious protests.

The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor´s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 has stoked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.

Doctors´ associations from government-run hospitals in many cities across India have launched strikes that cut non-essential services, with protests in their second week.

Demonstrators have given the murdered doctor the nickname “Abhaya”, meaning “fearless”.

Protesters marched through Kolkata on Tuesday, holding up signs demanding “justice”, while the country´s top court issued orders in the capital New Delhi.

“The brutality of the sexual assault and the nature of the crime have shocked the conscience of the nation,” the three-judge bench said in its order, calling the details “horrific”.

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud read out the order, which called for the formation of a “national task force” of top doctors to prepare a plan to prevent violence in healthcare facilities and draw up an “enforceable national protocol” for safe working conditions. The court said it had been forced to step in as the issue was of national concern.