SC to continue hearing RG Kar incident suo moto case on Sep 17

New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court is slated to continue hearing on Tuesday the matter where it has taken suo moto cognisance of the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata last month.

A three-judge bench, headed by CJI D. Y. Chandrachud, will consider the fresh status report of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI on Saturday arrested Abhijit Mondal, the former officer-in-charge of the Tala Police Station, under the jurisdiction of which R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital comes, in connection with the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the state-run hospital premises. Mondal was in charge of the police station when the body of the junior doctor was recovered from the seminar hall within the hospital premises on the morning of August 9.

Sandip Ghosh, the former Principal of R.G. Kar Hospital, who was earlier arrested by the CBI in the case of financial irregularities at the institution, and is currently in judicial custody, has also been shown as “arrested” in the rape and murder case.

In the hearing, senior advocate Indira Jaising will be representing the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF), the umbrella organisation of junior doctors in the state protesting against the “horrific” incident.

On the other hand, the Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal, an association of senior doctors in the state who are extending support to the ongoing protest movement by the junior doctors in the rape and murder case, will be represented by senior counsels Karuna Nandi and Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay.

In an earlier hearing, the SC told the CBI to file a fresh status report by September 17 and took on record the status report filed by the Central agency in terms of its previous order.

“We have now seen the further line of the ongoing investigation. We do not want to comment on anything in the open court. We will give you a week’s time to tell us what further leads have emerged in the course of the investigation,” said the Bench, also comprising Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Taking suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder case of the trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital, the Supreme Court had termed the incident “horrific,” which raises the “systemic issue of safety of doctors across the country”.

“We are deeply concerned with the fact that there is an absence of safe conditions of work for young doctors across the country, particularly, public hospitals,” it had said.

The top court ordered the formation of a National Task Force (NTF) to suggest measures for the security of medical professionals across the country, observing that the safety of doctors is the “highest national concern”.

Further, it asked the NTF, set up by the government on its direction, to give a hearing to diverse medical associations while formulating effective recommendations relating to the safety, working conditions and well-being of doctors and medical professionals.

–IANS

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