Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: Female Lawyer Trio Vs Kapil Sibal In SC Hearing On Oct 1

Kolkata: The family of the trainee doctor, who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, will be represented by senior lawyer Vrinda Grover.

Grover will replace lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is also a CPM Rajya Sabha MP, Telegraph reported.  

The next hearing is on October 1.

In the highly anticipated hearing, Kapil Sibal represents the Government of West Bengal, Indira jaising and Karuna Nundy represent junior and senior doctors. Grover joining the legal team representing the victim’s side makes it a female lawyer trio. 

Grover has appeared in several high-profile cases involving violation of women’s rights and human rights. She was among the lawyers, who represented the petitioners who opposed the release of 11 accused in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape during the 2002 Gujarat riots. She also appeared in the Ishrat Jahan case.  

During the last hearing on September 17, Jaising and Nundy questioned the state government’s decision to hire 1514 private security guards for deployment at the state run healthcare facilities. 

The Chief Justice of India (CJI), DY Chandrachud, reacted strongly against the move to deploy contractual workers at the hospital. Nundy pointed out that the accused in the rape and murder case was a Civic Volunteer. “What really happens is the accused was drawn from the contractual work, these contractual people will be trained for seven days and walking around all over the hospital, how do you ensure the safety? The crime was done by a volunteer,” CJI Chandrachud observed.

This is the suo-motu case taken up by the Supreme Court as the incident triggered nation-wide furore with doctors protesting for safe and secure workplaces.