Sajal Aly joins the chorus of voices condemning the rape and murder of a Calcutta doctor

Prominent Pakistani actress Sajal Aly, known for her work in both Pakistan and India, has raised her voice in support of the justice campaign for a doctor who was brutally raped and murdered in Kolkata, India.

On August 9, a 31-year-old doctor was found dead covered in blood at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata, West Bengal.

According to university staff, the doctor had gone to the seminar room to rest after working nearly 20 hours of a 36-hour shift.

The next day, her body was discovered half-naked. The autopsy report revealed that she had been the victim of a brutal gang rape and subsequent strangulation.

While protests broke out across India, mostly among doctors and medical staff, Bollywood personalities also took to social media to express their outrage over the Kolkata rape case.

Pakistani actress Sajal Aly also joined the chorus of voices and expressed her condemnation on Instagram.

Aly shared a poster reading “No mercy for rapists” on her official Instagram story as part of the campaign demanding justice for the murdered doctor.

Nationwide protests, doctors’ strike

Hundreds of thousands of Indian health workers and their supporters have launched a nationwide strike to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor last week at a government hospital in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta.

Activists and doctors across India continue to protest to demand justice for a doctor who was raped and murdered while on duty at a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.

Feminist groups gathered in Kolkata on Wednesday evening – the eve of India's Independence Day – for a protest under the slogan “Reclaim the Night” to show solidarity with the victim and demand the resignation of the principal of RG Kar Medical College. Some feminist protesters also marched far beyond Kolkata, including in the capital Delhi.

Many of Saturday's protests were led by doctors and other health workers, who were joined by tens of thousands of other Indians demanding action.

Hospitals and clinics across India turned away patients except in emergencies on Saturday as medical staff began a 24-hour shutdown at 6 a.m. Faculty from medical colleges were pressed into duty for emergency cases.

The murdered doctor was found in the seminar room of the university hospital, where she was working a 36-hour shift. An autopsy confirmed the sexual abuse.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country's largest association of medical professionals with 400,000 members, condemned the “crime of barbaric proportions and the lack of safe spaces for women”, adding in a statement that both the medical profession and the country were “victims”.

Hospitals and clinics in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad in western Gujarat, Guwahati in northeastern Assam and Chennai in southern Tamil Nadu and other cities joined the strike.