Indian medics stage nationwide strike over doctor's rape and murder
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00:00A joint cry for justice as medical workers gather once again on Saturday morning to call
00:06for the better protection of women. Doctors, students and nurses, thousands took to the
00:11streets marking the beginning of a national strike, more than a week after the rape and
00:16murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata, killed in the hospital she worked
00:21at.
00:23The Indian Medical Association has said all non-essential hospital services would be shut
00:27down until Sunday morning, with over a million workers expected to take part in the walkout.
00:33It's another day of mass demonstrations after tens of thousands of protesters took to the
00:38streets on Friday. That evening, the father of the victim thanked those who joined for
00:42their support.
00:45All the protesters who are out on the streets are like my sons and daughters. I feel they
00:52have now become my children. My daughter is gone but millions of sons and daughters are
00:56now with me. This has given me a lot of strength and I feel we will achieve progress.
01:03The brutality of his daughter's death has shone a new spotlight on the endemic problem
01:07of sexual violence against women in India. In 2022, an estimated average of 90 rapes
01:12were reported daily. The marches have been an opportunity for women to voice their fears.
01:18I am scared. Where is our safety? Is there enough safety? Our question is that.
01:26Tougher legislation against sexual violence was introduced in India following the gang
01:30rape of a student in New Delhi in 2012. But officials are often accused of mishandling
01:34investigations, leaving crimes unpunished. And activists say the situation in the last
01:39decade has barely improved.