non-emergency Hospital Services across India are shut as doctors take part in a 24-hour strike as part of ongoing protest following the rape and murder of a colleague in Kolkata a week ago thousands of people have demonstrated in city streets across the country demanding Justice The Assault on the 31-year-old has reignited National outrage at The Chronic issue of violence against women the most recent statistics show 445,000 crimes against women in 2022 that's an average about 51 crimes every hour among those there were 31,000 rapes reported or on average one rape reported every 16 minutes our correspondent Ashna Shukla has more from Mumbai now the largest doctors grouping which is the Indian Medical Association has joined into the protest so today 24 hours of Nationwide strike first such where both government as well as private healthcare institutions will stop all non-emergency services so all your elective surgeries as well as outpatient departments in both government and private hospitals will be closed today and that is a mark of protest and literally amping up the protest to put pressure both on the investigative agency as well as the government to do more about safety uh we know that the top crime agency is investigating the incident of the rape and murder of the 31-year-old traine doctor in Kolkata um and protesters are trying to amp up more uh uh and demand that a speedy trial and Justice is given in that matter uh and they're also demanding that the government come up with stricter laws to make it safer at workplace like we heard from one of the uh protesters that they spend hours together at the hospital that's literally like their second home and if they are not safe even there then where can women be safe and uh uh you know despite laws having come into place they're not effective on ground most of the protesters who I have spoken to over the last few days have told me uh that there are laws but they're not effective and hence they are demanding that the government come up with one a central law that can protect doctors against any violence that uh is leveled at them and secondly is to also make it more safer for women um at workplaces uh and outside uh you know despite laws uh violence against women has only gone up if you go by the government Statistics over the last one year it has gone up by 4% and this is something that uh uh the politicians the government uh and the public all need to uh sit up and take notice of that was the BBC's Ashna Shukla there