SC Hearing On Kolkata Rape-Murder, Here’s What The Court Stated

New Delhi: During the suo-motu hearing of Kolkata rape-murder case of a trainee doctor at the Supreme Court, the Mamata Banerjee-led Bengal government on Tuesday said it would withdraw its notification on women doctors to avoid night duty.

This comes after the apex court observed that Bengal government’s ‘Ratirer Sathi’ (Night Companion) programme—that notified avoidance of women being assigned night duty to the extent possible—would prejudice the careers of women doctors.

The Bengal government had introduced the programme to ensure safety and security of women following the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Hospital.

Meanwhile, the apex court made other observations in the case as well. Here’s what has happened in the court before it was adjourned after lunch break:

1) Wikipedia asked to remove victim’s name: The top court directed Wikipedia to remove the name of the victim from its platform. The court was told that Wikipedia had retained the name of the RG Kar victim and created an artistic graphic to depict her. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the CBI, raised concerns that the victim’s specific hairstyle was being depicted on various platforms.

2) No revelations to not hamper CBI probe: The court ruled that it would not be appropriate to divulge the leads in the CBI probe at this stage.

3) ‘No punitive action against doctors on stir’: Counsel Indira Jaising, who is representing the junior doctors in the case, asked the court to ensure that no punitive action is taken against the agitating doctors after they resume work. To this, the CJI said Kapil Sibal, representing West Bengal government, had informed that an assurance was given to junior doctors that no punitive measures would be imposed for their cease-work agitation and the same was reiterated in the court.

4) ‘File status reports on both rape-murder & graft cases’: Senior doctors had alleged that financial irregularities at RG Kar Hospital were closely connected to the rape-murder case. The SC directed the CBI to file a status report on the investigation into both the rape-murder and the financial irregularities cases at the next hearing.

5) ‘Consider father’s letter for leads’: The CJI suggested the CBI to consider the ‘valuable leads’ mentioned in a letter by the victim’s father in the case. “We are not making these suggestions public, but they are valuable inputs,” he stated.

6) ‘What CBI revealed is very disturbing’: The court observed that what the CBI had revealed in its investigation was very disturbing. “We are ourselves very disturbed by what we have read in CBI’s report,” the CJI said, adding that CBI had unearthed several pieces of important evidence leading to destruction of proof and tampering with the crime scene. The delay of five days in CBI taking over the case had hampered the investigation, CJI maintained. He also assured that all attempts were being to ‘unearth absolute truth.’

7) ‘Can’t ask Bengal CM to resign’: The apex court also junked a plea seeking the resignation of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the wake of the rape and murder case. The bench comprising CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra reprimanded the lawyer for his plea. The court stated it didn’t have a remit to pass such an order.

8) ‘It’s an open court’: When Kapil Sibal expressed concerns regarding live-streaming of the case hearing, the court refused to stop live-streaming. “We will not stop the live-streaming, it is in the public interest, it’s an open court,” the CJI stated.

The court will take up the matter after a week.