Many prominent literary, theatre and film personalities of West Bengal have announced to return the honours conferred on them by the state government over the RG Kar Hospital issue. They include actor Sudipta Chakraborty, theatre personality Biplab Bandyopadhyay and thespian Chandan Sen.

Sudipta Chakraborty decided to return the Special Film Award conferred on her by the Mamata Banerjee government in July 2013. In a letter to Information and Cultural Affairs department Secretary, Ms Chakraborty said, she will keep standing on the road, demanding justice for the Kolkata rape and murder victim.

Bengali theatre personality Biplab Bandyopadhyay said that he is returning the award conferred on him earlier this year by the Paschimbanga Natya Akademi. He alleged that the state government and police force want to hide facts following the rape and murder of a woman doctor in RG Kar Hospital on August 9.

Thespian Chandan Sen also declared that he is returning the ‘Dinabandhu Mitra Purashkar’, an award instituted by the Natya Akademi. One week back, a well-known theatre group in Malda district ‘Samabeta Prayas’ said it will return 50,000 rupees state grant to protest the government’s handling of the RG Kar issue. Recently Parimal Dey, a teacher from Alipurduar district, returned an award given to him by West Bengal government over the RG Kar incident.