Indian protesters block rail lines, halt buses after doctor's rape, murder

KOLKATA: Thousands of protesters blocked train tracks, halted buses and shouted slogans in India's state of West Bengal on Wednesday in the latest demonstration following the brutal rape and murder of a female trainee doctor.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in opposition in the eastern state, called for a 12-hour state-wide protest strike after police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse a march on Tuesday.

Most of Wednesday's protesters were BJP workers, who also forced shops to shut, as authorities braced for more disruptions, with one police official saying 5,000 officers had been deployed to quell any violence.

Thousands of doctors, many of them on strike since the August 9 crime was discovered, marched in the state's capital of Kolkata, demanding justice for the victim and better workplace safety for doctors.

"If the state government had powers to make laws, I would have made a law in seven days that would mandate capital punishment in incidents of rape," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told a rally.

Banerjee, a staunch political foe of Modi who has promised swift justice, appealed to the striking doctors to return to work, expressing sympathy for victims of sexual violence and their families.

Many university students were among Tuesday's protesters, who had called for Banerjee's resignation over her handling of the rape and murder of the 31-year-old doctor in a government-run hospital in Kolkata.

Indian President Droupadi Murmu said she was "dismayed and horrified" by the incident.

"No civilised society can allow daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities," broadcaster CNN News 18 quoted Murmu, a constitutional figurehead, as telling news agency PTI in her first comments on the crime. "Enough is enough."

The nationwide outrage unleashed by the attack was similar to that which followed the 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi, but campaigners said tougher laws had not deterred sexual violence against women.

A police volunteer has been arrested for the crime and federal police have taken over its investigation.