The rape and murder of a postgraduate medic at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital have sparked a national outcry over women’s safety in the workplace, and the Supreme Court heard a suo motu case on this matter on Tuesday.
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government was chastised by the top court for its careless handling of the case, and the CBI, which is presently looking into it, was instructed to produce a report by Thursday.
The court said it could not comprehend how “West Bengal allowed the vandalisation of RG Kar hospital by a mob when it was the duty of the police to secure round the clock the hospital where a ghastly crime scene”.
In an observation Supreme Court said “it appears crime was detected in early hours, medical college principal tried to pass it off as suicide”.
Court noted that the incident shocked the conscience of the nation.
Here’s what Supreme Court said:
- Supreme Court slammed Kolkata Police, asking how a mob of thousands entered RG Kar Medical College on the intervening night of August 14-15.
- The court further asked: “How mob vandalised equipment and Kolkata police did not know about it? What was the police doing? We are very very concerned,” the court said.
- Let the power of West Bengal government not be unleashed on protesting doctors, civil society or lawyers,” the apex court warned.
- Supreme Court said power of West Bengal government should not be unleashed on protestors, its time of national catharsis.
- The court rapped the Kolkata Police over the delay in filing FIR and asked what were hospital authorities doing. “We don’t understand why FIR was registered after 12 hours,” the bench said.
- “If women are not able to go to work and conditions are not safe, we are denying them equality,” said Chief Justice Chandrachud.
- The court said that the Kolkata rape case is “not a matter of a particular offence, but something which affects the institution of health care pan-India”.
- Supreme Court also criticised circulation of name and graphic details of the victim doctor and said it violated the dignity of the deceased.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representating the Centre, said “Let West Bengal not be in denial mode, there’s complete failure of law and order in state”.
CJI Chandrachud told Kapil Sibal, representating that state, that there is “unexplained delay in the registration of FIR” and said state must ensure that those who attacked hospital on August 14 are booke and prosecuted.
“There is undoubtedly an unexplained delay in the registration of FIR regarding the rape-murder incident at RG Kar hospital,” CJI said.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard the case on Tuesday.
The apex court’s intervention comes after widespread outrage and strikes by doctors across the country, who are accusing the state police of mishandling the case.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the largest organization of doctors in the country, has spearheaded the call for justice for the murdered doctor. On Saturday, the IMA organized a nationwide strike, halting all non-essential medical services for 24 hours. On Wednesday night, thousands of women across the country took to the streets to demand justice for the victim, joining “Reclaim The Night” marches.
A postgraduate trainee doctor was raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata while on duty last week.
The semi-naked body of the 32-year-old woman was found on August 9 morning in the seminar hall of the government-run hospital in the West Bengal capital. A civic volunteer has been arrested in connection with the crime.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the probe into the case from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
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Source: TOI
