KOLKATA: The Left and Congress will be organising state-wide protests on October 6 against the alleged gang rape of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, besides incidents of rape and murder West Bengal.
A mega rally will be organised in Kolkata, while similar programmes will also be held in the other districts, according to a statement issued by Left Front Chairman Biman Bose and Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan of the Congress.
The Kolkata rally will begin at Esplanade and go through the Park Street to end near the Lady Brabourne College, it said.
"Apart from the ghastly incident at Hathras in UP, we need to raise our voice against the rise in incidents of rape and murder of women in West Bengal," it said.
"The recent instances being the brutal rape and murder of women at Ghatal and Debra in Paschim Medinipur. The TMC government owe an explanation to the women of the state, to the people of the state about the rise in brutalities against women," it added.
Around 1,000 activists of the Left and the Congress on Saturday protested in Kolkata against the alleged gang rape in Hathras that has triggered a nationwide outrage.
The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped at a village in Hathras by four men on September 14.
After her condition deteriorated, she was referred to the Delhi's Safdarjung hospital where she breathed her last on Tuesday.
She was cremated in the early hours of Wednesday, with her family alleging the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night.