About 18 days after the brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital, protests erupted once again in Kolkata on Tuesday, demanding justice for the victim. But what began as a call for justice soon turned violent, with clashes breaking out in several parts of Kolkata and Howrah. Police lathi charged and shelled teargas and water cannons as protesters reportedly breached barricades and pelted stones.

Hundreds of protesters were arrested and injured, including police personnel and a photojournalist. And amid allegations that the protest was politically motivated, the BJP called for a 12-hour bandh in the state over alleged police brutality against the protesters. 

So what really happened during the protests, and how did Kolkata-based news outlets cover it?

Times of India - Kolkata edition

Times of India’s Kolkata edition front-page banner headline was “State to oppose BJP bandh after Nabanna march”. The main report, titled “Clashes between police and Chhatra Samaj mob shut of swathes of Kolkata, Howrah” said that “the promised ‘peaceful' march to Nabanna degenerated into mob violence at several places”. 

The report highlighted five main spots: “Howrah Bridge-MG Road, Hastings-Prinsep Ghat, Santragachhi, Foreshore Road-Mandirtala and Howrah Maidan-Mullick Fatak.” It said that more than 8,000 police personnel were deployed on ground, while 245 people were arrested and 153 were detained. Those injured included 37 cops and a photojournalist.    

The second report in the lead package was titled “Focus shifts from RG Kar crime to political tussle”. It said, “Doctors themselves were absent from Tuesday's march, as they had declared on Monday, but keenly watched the havoc wreaked on the streets of the two cities on either bank of of the Hooghly. Many felt the real issue — the brutal rape-murder of a young doctor at her workplace — was being ‘hijacked by politicians’ who ‘never cared for them much’.”

The Telegraph 

“The day of the lumpen”, was the page 1 banner headline of the Telegraph’s Kolkata edition. It carried a picture of the protesters breaking barricades at the city’s MG Road. The strap stated: “A citizen’s agitation for safety sparked by the RG Kar horror is brutally hijacked on Calcutta’s street.”

A front page report was headlined “Mobs and mayhem hold justice fight to ransom” and read: “Guardrails flying at police along with bricks and bottles. Officers chased, pinned on the road and beaten. Barricades tied with thick wiring and reinforced with sandbags – at some places cemented to the road – dismantled deftly or just ripped apart. The choicest abuse at the police’s mothers and sisters interspersed with chants of, ‘We want justice.’”

It said that at one point, the city police was “forced to fire water cannons and tear gas in at least six locations together”. The protests, which began around noon with “ordinary women and men,” were seemingly taken over by “a different kind of protester – mostly male” under the banner of the Pashchimbanga Chhatra Samaj and Sangrami Joutha Mancha.

“The violence they unleashed threatened to sideline the original cause of the protest: justice for the brutalised young doctor,” said the report, adding that the protesters demanded Banerjee’s resignation “as the single point of their fight for justice” and some even said that the protest was against Mamata’s “appeasement of Muslims”. It also quoted police personnel as saying that these were “not students” and it was a “deliberate ploy to instigate the police”.

Another page 1 report was headlined, “Bandh call to aid pledge, BJP lets its mask fall”. It said the BJP’s pledge to provide legal and medical aid to the arrested protesters and call for the 12-hour bandh were the indicators that the protest “had a definite saffron imprint”. It also said that “several BJP leaders led scores of protesters from their district bastions to Calcutta to join in the march although each gave a private reason for their participation.”

The Statesman

The front page headline on the Statesman’s Kolkata edition read, “Nabanna marchers engage in pitched battles with police”. It said that the protest was organised by Pashchimbanga Chhatra Samaj, “a newly formed platform allegedly backed by the opposition BJP”, in which the protesters “pelted stones at policemen, broke barricades and damaged several police vehicles”.     

It further added that while the protest was organised in the name of a student body, “not many of the demonstrators were students. Students belonging to the Left-backed organisations had backed out from the protest”.    

It said, “Some demonstrators carried the national flag. An elderly man wearing saffron colour kurta and lungi was seen waving the national flag. The demonstrators damaged several police vehicles parked near Babughat and torched police motorcycle. The state administration had said today’s march was illegal.”

Bengali news outlets 

Bengali newspaper Anandbazar Patrika’s front page headline was “People for people …but politics”. It also carried two pictures – one of a woman police personnel pointing teargas towards the protesters and another of a protester pelting stones. The lead package also had quotes from the victim’s mother, saying that they do not support any politics, while the father was quoted as saying that all the evidence has been destroyed. The main report in the newspaper detailed the proceedings against Sandip Ghosh.  

Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin’s headline was that the protests were violent but the police did not fire shots. It carried four pictures from the protest: an injured and bleeding protester, a charred vehicle, broken barricades, and a damaged police vehicle. 

Another daily Aajkaal’s frontpage headline was that persuasion failed and no corpse was found, purportedly hinting that the protest was politically motivated. 

Meanwhile, Ganashakti’s frontpage headline was that the police commissioner was at home and there was no cordon. It carried a picture of the protest, saying protests are going on across the state to demand justice. 

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