After a nationwide protest, Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of a doctor in RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata.
The bench includes Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra and the hearing on the matter is on Tuesday(August 20).
The case is titled “In Re : Alleged Rape and Murder of Trainee Doctor in RG Kar Medical College Hospital, Kolkata and related issues.”
The case was registered today at 1:03 PM after High Court passed the order acting on petitions filed by one of the parents of the victim and certain other individuals.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the investigation, after expressing lack of satisfaction with the Kolkata Police.
“The parents of the victim have an apprehension that if the investigation is allowed to continue in this manner, it will derail. Therefore they pray for extraordinary relief. One more disturbing aspect is that a case of unnatural death was registered. It is submitted that such cases are registered when there is no complaint. When the deceased was a doctor in the same hospital, it is surprising why the principal did not lodge a complaint. There has been no significant progress in the investigation. The administration was not with the victim or her family. The principal has not even given a statement. Without significant progress in the investigation, we would be well justified in accepting the prayers by the victim’s parents that evidence would be destroyed. Therefore we transfer the investigation to the CBI to do justice between parties and to inspire public confidence,” the High Court bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya.
Case Title : In Re : Alleged Rape and Murder of Trainee Doctor in RG Kar Medical College Hospital, Kolkata and related issues | SMC(Crl) 2/2024
Earlier on Thursday, two Supreme Court lawyers wrote to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, urging him to take suo motu cognizance of the tape and the murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College.
Case Update: CBI investigators are examining the call records and chats of Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, as part of their probe into the rape and murder of a woman doctor. Ghosh, who appeared before CBI officials for the third consecutive day on Sunday, was asked to provide details of the phone calls he made before and after the incident, according to a CBI officer. The agency has the main accused in custody and has questioned nearly 30 individuals in the case.
On the other hand doctors and medical staff across the country are staging protests, disrupting the functioning of health facilities. Their demands include the implementation of a central law to curb violence against healthcare workers, the designation of hospitals as safe zones, and mandatory security provisions, among other measures.
