Ahead of today’s Supreme Court hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a progress report on the investigation into the horrific rape and murder of a female trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
After taking up the issue on its own, a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and made up of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra heard the case on Tuesday, August 20. It had requested status updates from the Bengal government and the CBI about the investigations into the vandalism and rape-murder at RG Kar Hospital, respectively.
The supreme court has received both reports, according to reliable sources. Additionally, the Bengal government’s legal team consists of twenty-one lawyers, whilst the Center’s team consists of five advocates.
Protests and national indignation have been triggered by the violent rape and murder of the thirty-one-year-old postgraduate doctor.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the highest court chastised the Bengali government for a number of mishandled aspects of the case and for not intervening to prevent vandalism at the state-run hospital and medical college. Today, the Bengali government is scheduled to provide a status report regarding the advancement of the vandalism probe.
The CBI was given the investigation into the rape-murder case on August 13 by the Calcutta High Court, which noted “serious lapses” by the RG Kar hospital administration.
In the rape-murder case, a large group of attorneys are defending the Centre and the Bengali government, respectively.
In the rape-murder case, a large group of attorneys are defending the Centre and the Bengali government, respectively.
Here are the lawyers from the Bengal government’s side:
1. Kapil Sibal
2. Menaka Guruswamy
3. Sanjay Basu
4. Astha Sharma
5. Srisatya Mohanty
6. Nipun Saxena
7. Anju Thomas
8. Aparajita Jamwal
9. Sanjeev Kaushik
10. Mantika Haryani
11. Shreyas Awasthi
12. Utkarsh Pratap
13. Pratibha Yada
14. Lihzu Shiney Konyak
15. Ripul Swati Kumari
16. Lavkesh Bhanbhani
17. Arunisa Das
18. Devadipta Das
19. Archit Adlakha
20. Aditya Raj Pandey
21. Mehreen Garg
Here are the lawyers representing the Centre:
1. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta
2. Madhav Sinhal
3. Arkaj Kumar
4. Swati Ghildiyal
5. MK Maroria, Advocate on Record (AOR)
SUMMARY OF SUPREME COURT’S EARLIER HEARING
During Tuesday’s hearing, the top court severely criticized the Bengal government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital for the way they handled the rape-murder. The bench criticized the hospital administration and Dr. Sandip Ghosh, the previous principal, for the delay in filing a First Information Report (FIR) and questioned why it was done so many hours after the patient was cremated.
The bench also criticized the authorities for requiring the victim’s parents to wait three hours in order to view her body.
BODIES OF DOCTORS MOVE SUPREME COURT
The Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) has petitioned the Supreme Court for temporary safeguarding of physicians until the National Task Force’s recommendations are put into effect.
According to the petition, since implementation will take some time, doctors should be given certain interim protections, such as CCTV surveillance in all areas of a medical college or hospital that are sensitive (entrance and exit gates, corridors, and hostels).
“After this horrifying tragedy, doctors—especially women doctors—are afraid. Security is required since their families aren’t letting them work at night,” the petition continued.
The National Federation of Resident Doctors of AIIMS has brought the concerns of numerous resident doctors at AIIMS across the nation to the attention of the highest court through an intervention application.
Additionally, the application requested that physicians follow temporary measures until the NTF’s recommendations are put into effect.