India’s Supreme Court today said it took suo motu (voluntary) cognisance of the rape and murder case of a postgraduate doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata because it raises systemic issues regarding safety of doctors across India.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which took cognisance of the August 9 incident, said if women are not able to go to work and working conditions are not safe, we are denying them equality.
The top court called the incident at RG Kar Medical College “horrific” and “horrendous” and indicted chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s government for the delay in registration of the FIR and destruction of the crime scene.
The bench, which also comprises Justices JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, said, “The power of West Bengal government should not be unleashed on protesters, and it is time of national catharsis.”
The court said, “The nation cannot wait for another rape for things to change on the ground.”
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government of West Bengal should not be in denial about the “complete failure of law and order” in the state.
He said a mob of 7,000 people could not have entered RG Kar Hospital without knowledge of Kolkata Police when the doctors were protesting there against the rape and murder of the 31-year-old doctor on August 9.
The Supreme Court’s suo motu cognisance of the case, titled “In Re: Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and related issue”, assumes significance in view of the fact that Calcutta High Court is already in action and has transferred the probe into the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The countrywide doctors’ strike over the rape and murder of the medic in Kolkata is now in its second week hitting OPD services in hospitals across India, causing difficulties for patients.
The protesting doctors want the CBI to catch the culprits and for the court to impose the maximum punishment on them. They also want an assurance from the government that “no such incidents will occur in the future”.
The doctor’s body with severe injury marks was found inside the seminar hall of the hospital’s chest department on August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested by the Kolkata Police in connection with the case the following day.
On August 13, Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started its investigation on August 14.
The High Court ordered the transfer of the probe to the CBI while hearing petitions, including one moved by the victim’s parents praying for a court-monitored probe.
Meanwhile, there was no let-up in nationwide protests yesterday by junior doctors over the rape and murder even as the Union health ministry approved 25 percent enhancement in security deployment at central government-run hospitals.
The CBI, probing the case, has been granted permission by a court to conduct a polygraph test on the accused, a civic volunteer.
In Kolkata, the protests escalated as senior doctors Kunal Sarkar and Subarna Goswami, who had posted about the incident on social media, appeared before police after leading a march of hundreds of healthcare professionals from Calcutta Medical College to Kolkata Police headquarters.
