Today, On 8th October, The Calcutta High Court directed the Central government to upgrade AIIMS West Bengal to the same standards as AIIMS Delhi. Additionally, the court instructed the West Bengal government to cooperate fully with the Centre’s efforts, ensuring no obstacles and granting all required permissions for the task.
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Union Ministry of Health to upgrade the infrastructure at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kalyani, West Bengal, to match the standards of AIIMS in Delhi and Rishikesh.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh issued this directive while ruling on a plea filed by the father of the victim in the Jaynagar rape and murder case. The father had requested that the post-mortem be conducted at a hospital under the Central government. In response, the Court had earlier ordered the procedure to take place at AIIMS, Kalyani.
However, during the proceedings, the Court informed that AIIMS Kalyani lacked the necessary post-mortem facilities. As a result, the Court directed AIIMS Kalyani to carry out the post-mortem using the facilities available at the State-run JNM Hospital in Kalyani.
The Court also ordered the Additional Solicitor General to dispatch a health in-charge team to assess and identify the deficiencies at AIIMS Kalyani so that they could be addressed. The infrastructure improvements must be completed by December 31, 2025.
In his remarks, Justice Ghosh emphasized,
“This should be done so that the common man can avail the best services of the doctors… You try to understand… The first batch of students will be graduating from this AIIMS… They don’t have post-mortem experience… Why should people go to South India to get treated?”
The Court directed the West Bengal government to ensure there are no obstacles in the process of revamping AIIMS Kalyani and to provide all necessary permissions for the project.
The judge remarked,
“I will ensure that the State will not act as a barrier… If any license is required… This must be completed by the 31st of December 2025… This will benefit the public at large… These are directions upon the Central government… What I am concerned about is that the best of the students, without knowing post-mortem, will pass out the MBBS,”
The Jaynagar rape case pertains to the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl, whose body was found in the Mahismari area of Jaynagar in the early hours of October 5.
Later, a judicial magistrate rejected a police request to conduct the post-mortem (in the presence of a judicial magistrate) at the Mominpur Police Morgue Hospital. Following this, the State approached the High Court to challenge the trial court’s order. However, it later withdrew the challenge and supported the victim’s father’s request to conduct the postmortem at a hospital run by the Central government.
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Appearing for the State were Advocate General Kishore Dutta, Public Prosecutor Debasish Roy, Additional PP Rudradipta Nandy, and advocate Sanjana Saha. Deputy Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi and advocate Bankim Pal represented the Union of India.
The respondents represented by advocates Billwadal Bhattacharyya, Chandan Kumar Saha, Gautam Sardar, Bhaskar Bhattacharyya, Apurbo Mondal, Dibakar Biswas, Raj Sharma, and Pradip Kumar Mondal.
Advocates Samim Ahmed, Chandan Hossain, Rajit Lal Moitra, Arnab Sinha, Arka Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Arya Bhattacharyya, Ambiya Khatun, and Enamul Islam appeared for the minor victim’s family.