Kolkata rape-murder case: The Calcutta High Court has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the murder of a woman doctor. The protests are being held for the second day in a row at different medical colleges in the state from Greater Noida in the west to Varanasi in the east and cities such as Kanpur, Jhansi, Agra, Gorakhpur besides state capital Lucknow over the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata.
While ruling, the Calcutta High Court also urged agitating doctors to call off ceasework and said they have a 'pious obligation'.
Junior doctors, interns and other staff who were on duty with the postgraduate trainee, who was allegedly raped and killed at state-run RG Kar hospital, were called for questioning at Kolkata Police headquarters here, officials said. The Head of the Department of chest medicine at RG Kar hospital and a security guard were also summoned at Lalbazar as part of the probe, they said.
What did the court observe in its order?
A division bench presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam said it appreciates the feelings vented by the doctors and interns over the incident. Passing the order, the court said even after five days, no significant progress had been made in the investigation into the case by the Kolkata Police. The state's counsel submitted that one person has been arrested and statements of more than 25 people have been recorded. He also claimed that the probe was being carried out appropriately.
The court said that it was "quite disturbing" that the police had registered an unnatural death case in this connection. The state's lawyer submitted that under normal circumstances a case of unnatural death is registered when there is no complaint.
"When the deceased victim was a doctor working at the hospital, it is rather surprising as to why the principal of the hospital administration did not lodge a formal complaint," the court said, holding that in its view, this was a "serious lapse giving room for suspicion".
The court also noted that statements of the then principal, superintendent and deputy superintendent of the hospital were not recorded by the police till the matter came up for hearing before the court on Tuesday. The court observed that it will be well-justified in accepting the plea of the petitioners that there is every possibility that the evidence will be destroyed and the witnesses will be influenced.
"Therefore, we deem it appropriate to transfer the investigation to the CBI," it said.
The bench said that as pointed out by the Supreme Court, the circumstances for transferring investigation in a case from a state agency to any other independent agency is to do justice between the parties and to instil confidence in the public mind.
The court noted that the public agitated in large numbers on the very same day the body was found on August 9 and it was admitted by the state that Rapid Action Force (RAF) had to be brought in.
Maintaining that it should be borne in mind that the agitation, which commenced at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has spread out to other institutions in West Bengal as also to other states in the country, the court said that these are all relevant factors.
Disheartening that then principal was not proactive: High Court
The bench observed it was disheartening to note that the then principal of the medical college, Sandip Ghosh, was not proactive after learning of the death of the woman doctor, who worked there. Ghosh has been asked to go on a long leave by the court.
The court also expressed surprise that within the shortest possible time, he was reinstated as principal of another medical college in the city after he tendered his resignation on Monday. The case will be heard again after three weeks, when the CBI will submit its progress report in a sealed cover.
"The least that can be expected of a higher official of the concerned department is to immediately relieve the principal from his duties and not assign him any other duty of equal responsibility," the court said. The bench said it was not clear why there was tearing urgency in doing so.
The court directed the state government to file a report on prayers over securing all government hospitals and the hospital authority would also file a separate report on the infrastructure there and permitted the doctors/students to file their suggestions.
NCW team visits Kolkata hospital
A two-member team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) visited state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday morning. They went to the seminar hall where a woman doctor was raped and murdered. The two-member team led by Delina Khongdup went to meet the investigating officers at Kolkata Police's headquarters at Lalbazar after reaching the city, before going to the victim's Panihati residence to meet the parents. Khongdup described the crime as "heinous" and "very unfortunate incident". The body of the woman doctor was found in a seminar hall at the hospital on Friday morning, and a civic volunteer was arrested on Saturday in connection with the crime.
(With PTI inputs)
