— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

STIR AGAINST QUOTA: Medical students facing water cannon during a protest against reservation near the Supreme Court in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: A large number of resident doctors in medical institutions across the capital went on a mass casual leave on Thursday in protest against the reservation Bill. The protest affected services in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Maulana Azad Medical College.

The protesters, including students from medical colleges, besides Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, clashed with the police during a demonstration on Bhagwandass Road. The police used teargas and water cannon twice to stop the students from crossing a barricade and marching towards the Supreme Court. Five students, including two girls, were injured.

Over 150 students were detained and a case for rioting was registered.

The demonstration was organised under the banner of "Youth for Equality". The protest disrupted traffic around the area.

"Our protest was a peaceful one. We just wanted to stand in front of the court, holding signs that said `Supreme Court save us.' We wanted to draw its attention to the Government's latest move seeking to push through the Bill on reservation," said AIIMS Resident Doctors Association president Binod Patra.

"To gherao Parliament"

In case the Bill was passed, the medicos would intensify their strike, he said. "On Friday, we will gherao Parliament for our voice to be heard. The Government should understand that we have support from the student community across the country and the movement will spread."

With resident doctors staying away from hospitals, essential services, including emergency and outpatient departments (OPD), were hit.

In the AIIMS, several patients, who had queued up outside the OPD in the morning, were turned away. Though the faculty and senior doctors were called in to attend on the patients, the reduced strength of doctors had its impact.

"We are not turning back anyone in need of urgent medical care," said Vinod Khaitan, a senior faculty member in the AIIMS.

Joining the agitation, students from the Indian Institute of Management and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, held a peaceful demonstration at Jantar Mantar.

Kolkata Staff Reporter reports:

In Kolkata, anti-reservation demonstrators were injured when lathi-wielding police dispersed them during a rally. Students of different institutions and a section of junior doctors, who organised the rally, were headed for Esplanade in the heart of the city, when they suddenly changed route towards the city police headquarters.

Traffic was disrupted on Chittaranjan Avenue in the central part of the city in the afternoon as the agitators blocked roads toprotest the police action.

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