As protests continue across the country over the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, the Calcutta High Court has taken up several pleas regarding the matter. Significantly, the victim’s parents have demanded a court-monitored investigation because they were initially misled about their daughter’s death. The 31-year-old was found dead in the state-run RG Kar Hospital’s seminar hall on August 9.
The victim had actually been brutally assaulted, raped, and murdered, and was bleeding from several horrific wounds when her body was discovered.
However, as the counsel for the parents pointed out in court according to Live Law, they were first contacted at 9.30 am on August 9 and informed that their daughter was unwell. Their trauma continued after they were made to wait for several hours and falsely told that she had died by suicide.
“The condition in which the body of the victim was found was gruesome, but the state registered a case of suicide. This shows the conduct of the state, the parents’ counsel told the court,” according to Live Law.
The court reportedly pulled up the state and demanded to know if this was true. It also ordered the state to submit the case diary to the court. The state replied that as per procedure a case of ‘unnatural death’ had first been registered and denied that the parents had been made to wait for several hours.
A second worrying matter that was brought before the court was regarding the principal of RG Kar Hospital, Dr Sandip Ghosh. He was forced to step down after large-scale protests and handed in his resignation. Instead of accepting his resignation letter, the state government transferred him to the Calcutta National Medical College (CNMC) for the same post. The court has now recommended that Sandip goes on leave and threatened to pass an order to that effect if the recommendation is not followed, Live Law also reported. According to Hindustan Times, the court also came down strongly on the state asking, “Why are you protecting him?” and pointed out that Sandip should have been the first to be questioned.
Meanwhile, protests have been raging with doctors in many hospitals across the country going on strike. A protesting junior doctor from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the crime occurred, told Telegraph that their demands are very clear and until these were met they would not resume work. The protesters have demanded that the police investigation should be completed by August 14 and asked for a judicial probe in the case.
On August 12, the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah announcing a nation-wide halt to elective services in hospitals in solidarity with the doctors of RG Kar Hospital.
At least 10 government hospitals in Delhi including AIIMS, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, GTB Hospital, and others and others are also on strike and have halted elective services.
According to Indian Express, resident doctors at Pune’s BJ Government Medical College have been on an indefinite strike from August 11.
The Karnataka chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru have also demanded a thorough and impartial investigation.
In the face of these protests, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has issued the state police a deadline of August 18 to complete their investigation. The CM has also said that the case would be transferred to the CBI if the police do not meet the deadline.