KOLKATA – A man has been charged for the rape and murder of a resident doctor during a night shift in India’s eastern city of Kolkata, a crime that ignited nationwide protests about the country’s pervasive problem with gender violence.

In a charge sheet seen by CNN, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleges the man was out drinking with a friend on the afternoon of August 8 and returned to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a state-run institution, in Kolkata, West Bengal, where he found the female doctor asleep on a mattress. The resident doctor’s body was found the following day with multiple injuries and signs of sexual assault in a seminar hall at the hospital, local police said at the time.

The doctor trainee was resting in a seminar room at the medical college while working a night shift when the attack occurred, Kolkata’s then-police commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal said in August. By Indian law, rape victims cannot be named. On Monday, the CBI charged the man, a civic volunteer with Kolkata police, under sections of Indian law related to rape, causing the death of a woman and murder, a source at the CBI told CNN.

The man was arrested a day after the woman’s body was found and remains in police custody. CNN is aware of the man’s identity and has reached out to his lawyers for comment. Evidence presented by CBI, according to the charge sheet, include CCTV footage of the man at the hospital at the time of the incident and DNA found on the victim that matches that of the suspect. India has struggled for years to tackle high rates of violence against women, with a number of high-profile rape cases drawing international attention. In the weeks after the alleged attack, hundreds of thousands of doctors have joined nationwide protests demanding justice and calling for improvements to women’s safety, especially better protections for health workers.

Junior doctors in Kolkata went on strike for more than 40 days and have since ceased work again, alleging the government has failed to deliver on their demands, which include enhanced security in hospitals and an investigation into corruption within the healthcare sector.  Several junior doctors at the medical college and hospital also began an indefinite hunger strike on Sunday, protest organizers told CNN, and dozens of senior doctors at the college have resigned in solidarity with those protesting. (CNN)

…[+]