The Supreme Court heard the case of rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical Hospital on Monday. The West Bengal government filed a status report in the court regarding the vandalism in the hospital. At the same time, the CBI filed a status report regarding the investigation so far in the case.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, while hearing the case, reviewed the report submitted in a sealed envelope.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Bengal government, told the bench that we have filed a status report. The state health department has submitted the report. 23 people have died due to the doctors’ strike.
At the same time, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared on behalf of the CBI, said that what does the West Bengal government want to hide from the CBI? We have not received a copy of the reply filed by the West Bengal government.
Kapil Sibal, on behalf of the West Bengal government, told the court that we have only submitted a copy of the reply in the court. We have not yet given a copy to the CBI. Sibal said that due to the doctors’ strike, when the doctors were not working in the hospital, 23 people died due to lack of treatment.
Solicitor Mehta said that we have the forensic report. When the dead body was found at 9.30 in the morning, she was in a semi-nude state. There were injury marks on the body. This is a very serious matter. After that, the CBI decided that the samples collected from the crime scene and the dead body should be sent to AIIMS. In such a situation, it becomes important to know who took the samples and how.
What questions did the Supreme Court raise?
While looking at the status report presented on this matter, CJI Chandrachud asked how far was the principal’s house from the hospital? To this the Solicitor General said that his house was at least 15 to 20 minutes away from the hospital.
CJI asked what was the time of unnatural death? When was the entry of unnatural death made? On this Sibal said that the death certificate was received at 1.47 am. The entry regarding unnatural death was made at 2.55 am. The court said then why did it take so much time?
CJI asked when the search and recovery took place? On this Sibal said that the recovery took place at 8.30 pm. The process started when the body was taken for postmortem. Before that the photography work was completed there.
The Supreme Court asked whether the Kolkata Police has handed over the entire footage from 8:30 to 10:45 to the CBI? To this the Solicitor General said that yes, we have got it. There are a total of four clippings. These clippings are of a duration of 27 minutes.
The Supreme Court once again asked when the FIR was registered. On this the West Bengal government said that the FIR was registered at 2.55 pm while the death certificate was given at 1.47 pm. The CJI said that we want clarification in the case of unnatural death.
In this case, the court has now given one more week to the CBI for investigation.
What did SC say during the last hearing?
Earlier, during the hearing on August 20, the Supreme Court had termed the incident as horrific and issued several directions, including the formation of a 10-member national task force to prepare a protocol to ensure the safety of doctors and other health professionals.
On August 9, a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered inside the seminar hall of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College. On August 22, the court reprimanded the Kolkata Police for the delay in registering a case of unnatural death.
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