Today, On 15th October, The CBI informed the Supreme Court that its investigation into the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College is being conducted with “utmost seriousness.” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta presented the fifth status report before a bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud. A chargesheet was filed on October 7 against accused Sanjay Roy, and a Sealdah court has taken cognizance of the case.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court, On Tuesday, began hearing a suo motu (on its own initiative) case concerning the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
The case is being heard by a bench that includes Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, along with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
At the start of the proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), apprised the bench that the investigation into the matter is being conducted with the “utmost seriousness.”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, submitted the fifth status report of the agency before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
He told the bench,
“Investigation was going on in the matter with utmost seriousness. The chargesheet in the matter was filed on October 7 against accused Sanjay Roy and a Sealdah court has taken cognisance,”
On September 30, the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction with the West Bengal government’s slow progress in installing CCTV cameras and constructing toilets and separate restrooms in government medical colleges. The court directed the state to complete the pending work by October 15.
Earlier, on September 17, the court expressed concern over the findings in the CBI’s status report related to the case but refrained from disclosing details, noting that doing so could compromise the ongoing investigation.
On September 9, the court raised issues regarding the absence of the “challan,” a crucial document forwarding the body of the junior doctor for postmortem, in the records submitted to it. As a result, it requested a report from the West Bengal government.
On August 22, the Supreme Court criticized the Kolkata police for their delay in registering the case of unnatural death concerning the doctor. The court described the situation as “extremely disturbing” and questioned the sequence of events and the timing of the police’s procedural actions.
In response to the incident, the court established a 10-member National Task Force to create a protocol aimed at ensuring the safety and security of healthcare professionals.
Describing the case as “horrific,” the court reprimanded the state government for the delayed filing of the FIR and allowing a large crowd to vandalize the state-run hospital. The doctor’s death, which involved injury marks on her body, sparked nationwide protests. A civic volunteer was arrested by Kolkata police the day after the crime.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court transferred the investigation from the Kolkata police to the CBI, which took charge of the case on August 14.
The 31-year old doctor was raped and murdered at the Kolkata hospital on August 9. Her partially clothed body was found at the hospital’s seminar room the next morning.
The prime suspect, who has been arrested, is Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, who was stationed at the police outpost at the hospital and had access to all departments.
But the investigation had left too many questions unanswered including the various distorted versions told to the parents one of which was the claim that their daughter has died by suicide.
There were also allegations that the police had forced the cremation despite the parents’ unwillingness and one officer had even offered them money to bury the case.
There was the construction near the site of the crime, mob attack on the protesters at RG Kar hospital on the night of August 15 and the transfer of Sandip Ghosh to a top hospital hours after he submitted his resignation.
The courts questioned why the former principal had not file a complaint for a timely First Information Report, the lapses in post-mortem report and the associated papers. The case handed to the CBI, which first arrested Ghosh in connection with the parallel corruption case they are investigating and then for alleged evidence tampering.