Kolkata rape-murder case heard in Supreme Court

Kolkata: The Supreme Court today heard a petition related to the rape-murder case of a female doctor (trainee) at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. It was argued in the Supreme Court that there are many social media posts revealing the name and photo of the victim. On this, the Supreme Court reiterated its order that no mediator is allowed to publish the name and photo of the victim in the RG Kar Hospital case.

As soon as the hearing of the case started, advocate Vrinda Grover told the bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra that the parents of the deceased victim are upset with the repeated clips revealing her name and photo on social media.

The apex court said that it has already passed an order on the issue and it is the job of the law enforcement agencies to implement the order. It clarified its earlier order and said that it applies to all mediators. The bench said the CBI probe has found enough leads and it has recorded statements on both aspects – the alleged rape and murder and financial irregularities.

The apex court had on September 17 said it was disturbed by the findings in the status report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the rape-murder case but refused to disclose details, saying any disclosure could jeopardise the ongoing probe.

On September 9, the apex court had expressed concern over the disappearance of a crucial document – the challan – from the records produced before it, sending the body of the junior doctor, who was raped and murdered at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, for post-mortem, and had 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 of the rape and murder victim woman doctor at the hospital, calling it extremely disturbing and raising questions on the sequence of events and the timing of its procedural formalities. The apex court had earlier constituted a 10-member National Task Force (NTF) to prepare a protocol to ensure the safety of doctors and other healthcare professionals.

The country’s Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter and is hearing it. The first hearing in this case was also held in the Supreme Court on August 20. While the last hearing before today was held on September 17. In this case, on August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered the investigation of the case to be handed over from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started its investigation on August 14.

Earlier, junior doctors, who returned to work after more than a month of agitation demanding justice for their colleague, had said on Saturday (September 28) night that after the hearing, they would start a strike in all hospitals across Bengal. The junior doctors have taken this decision after the state government failed to keep its promise to provide them security.

Let us tell you that a junior doctor was raped and murdered on the intervening night of 8-9 August at RG Kar Medical College-Hospital in Kolkata. The deceased was a postgraduate second year student and trainee doctor of Chest Medicine Department in the medical college. On the morning of 9 August, the body of the doctor was found in a semi-nude state in the seminar hall on the fourth floor of the medical college. The post-mortem report confirmed the rape of the female doctor.

After this incident, on the morning of 15 August, a mob attacked the hospital and vandalized the emergency department of the government hospital. This incident happened just a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered to hand over the investigation of the rape-murder case to the CBI. Now the Kolkata Police is investigating the case of vandalism in the hospital.