SC commences hearing plea related to rape-murder case of Kolkata doctor

The Supreme Court on Tuesday commenced hearing a suo motu (on its own motion) case related to the rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is hearing the matter.

At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the (Central Bureau of Investigation) CBI, informed the bench that investigation was going on in the matter with “utmost seriousness”.

The hearing is currently underway.

The apex court on September 30 had expressed dissatisfaction over the “tardy” progress made by the West Bengal government over the installation of CCTVs and construction of toilets and separate resting rooms in government medical colleges, and directed the state to complete the ongoing work by October 15.

On September 17, the top court said it was disturbed by the findings given in the CBI’s status report in the case while refusing to divulge the details and observed that any disclosure may jeopardise the ongoing investigation.

Earlier, on September 9, the top court had expressed its concern over the absence of the “challan” — a key document forwarding the body of the junior doctor for postmortem — from the records placed before it and sought a report from the West Bengal government.

On August 22, the apex court had pulled up the Kolkata police over the delay in registering the unnatural death case of the woman doctor, calling it “extremely disturbing” and questioned the sequence of events apart from the timing of its procedural formalities.

The top court had constituted a 10-member National Task Force to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other healthcare professionals.

Terming the incident as “horrific”, the apex court had censured the state government over the alleged delay in filing of the FIR and allowing thousands of people to vandalise the state-run facility.

The incident, which saw the doctor being killed with her body showing injury marks, had sparked nationwide protests. A civic volunteer was arrested by the Kolkata police in connection with the case the following day of the crime.

On August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe from the Kolkata police to the CBI, which began its investigation on August 14.