Why was the delay in filing FIR? Supreme Court raps Mamata govt over RG Kar rape-murder

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked the government counsel why there was a three-hour delay in filing the FIR from the time (8:30 pm) when the dead body was handed over for cremation.

CJI Chandrachud said, "What was the principal, and the hospital board, doing during this time?"

"It appears crime was detected in the morning. The hospital's principal tried to pass it off as suicide and the parents were not allowed to see the body. No FIR was filed," the CJI added.

The government counsel Kabil Sibal argued the information was incorrect and the FIR was registered immediately.

The Supreme Court, which took suo-motu cognisance of the incident, has questioned the state government's reappointment of Dr. Sandip Ghosh as the principal of Calcutta National Medical College within hours after he resigned from the same post at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Dr. Ghosh was asked to take leave by the Calcutta High Court, which has directed a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the rape-murder.

The top court, which has now taken up the case from Calcutta HC, has asked the CBI to file a report by Thursday (August 22), the day when the next hearing has been scheduled.

The court has asked the state to file a report on the proceedings of investigation into the vandalism of RG Kar Hospital by Thursday. 

Photo courtesy: IBNS File

Meanwhile, a National Task Force comprising top doctors has been constituted by the apex court for recommendations on doctors' safety.

The task force has been asked to file an interim report within three weeks and a final report within two months.

"Medical professions have become vulnerable to violence. Due to ingrained patriarchal biases, women doctors are targeted more.

"As more and more women join the workforce, the nation cannot wait for another rape for things to change on the ground," CJI Chandrachud  said.

The Supreme Court has also come down hard on the state administration, which is facing allegations of cover-up, over the vandalisation of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital by miscreants in the intervening night of August 14 and August 15 when lakhs of women and men took to streets across the state for night vigil demanding justice.

The Supreme Court has questioned the government counsel why the police didn't have the intel input of a march by 7,000 people, the figure revealed by the Kolkata Police days ago.

Kolkata Commissioner of Police Vineet Goyal last week claimed 7,000 people barged into the RG Kar Hospital and his team had no intelligence input of it.

Though over 30 people have been arrested in connection with the vandalism, the Kolkata Police has been accused of being a mute spectator while the rampage went on for about an hour.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has urged the protesting students to resume their duty as the nationwide strike threatens to disrupt the medical system.

The junior doctors, particularly in West Bengal, went on a strike demanding justice for the 31-year-old, who is now referred to as Tillotama, cripping the medical system of the state.

Not just the students, people from diverse fraternities are conducting rallies in Kolkata and neighbouring districts on a regular basis with one-point demand, justice for the victim.