CISF deploys 150 personnel at Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital for security

New Delhi: Around 150 personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) are being deployed at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital following an order of the Supreme Court, official sources said on Wednesday.

A day after the apex court’s order, the Union home ministry wrote to the West Bengal chief secretary seeking deployment of the CISF at the state-run hospital.

Subsequently, a decision has been taken for the deployment of the CISF, the sources said.

Earlier in the morning, a CISF team, led by a DIG-rank officer, surveyed the hospital complex where a 31-year-old trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered earlier this month.

The force is expected to secure the resident doctors’ hostel and other facilities, the sources said.

The medic’s body was found in the hospital’s seminar room on the morning of August 9. A civic volunteer, who was an outsider frequenting the hospital premises, was arrested the next day in connection with the case.

The incident has since triggered protests affecting medical services across the country, with hundreds of resident doctors on strike under different banners demanding safety of medics through a central law.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday constituted a 10-member task force to formulate a national protocol to ensure safety and facilities for doctors. The task force will submit its interim report within three weeks and the final report within two months.

The apex court also ordered the deployment of CISF at the RG Kar hospital to provide security to the doctors.