The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed January 29 for hearing the matter where it has taken suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August 2024.
"We will take it up at 2 pm next Wednesday (January 29)," said a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan as it deferred the hearing due to paucity of time.
The CJI Khanna-led Bench asked senior advocate Karuna Nundy, representing the associations of medical professionals, to provide a copy of interlocutory applications filed to the other side.
On the other hand, the West Bengal government approached Calcutta High Court and has challenged the judgment of the Kolkata special court where it handed out life term punishment to Sanjay Roy-the lone accused and convict of the woman doctor's case.
As the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday morning before a division bench of Justices Debangshu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi, the CBI challenged the petition filed by the state government and questioned the grounds on which it could make such an appeal.
The deputy solicitor general, Rajdeep Majumdar, countered that only the CBI, which is the investigating agency in the case, and the victim's parents could move such a plea at a higher court. The state government cannot, because it is not a party in the case.
Majumdar used the case by CBI against the former Bihar Chief Minister and the Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav as support for his assertion; in this case, the state government's appeal was not granted consideration by Patna High Court.
January 27 would be the deciding date when Calcutta High Court would either permit or reject West Bengal government's petition.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said earlier that the Bengal government will file an appeal in the Calcutta High Court challenging the quantum of the sentence and seeking the death penalty for the convict.
"I am convinced that it is indeed a rarest of rare cases which demands capital punishment. We want to insist upon the death penalty in this most sinister and sensitive case," the Chief Minister said.
While pronouncing the quantum of the sentence, special court judge Anirban Das said that the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) contention that Roy's offence in the matter was "the rarest and rare crimes" was not tenable.
Therefore, instead of the "death penalty", the judge declared that Roy, who was an erstwhile civic volunteer attached to Kolkata Police, should be sentenced to "life imprisonment". Apart from that a fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on Roy.
The special court, meanwhile, directed the West Bengal government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased victim.
It noted that since the victim was raped and murdered at her workplace, which is a state-government entity, the West Bengal government is legally liable to pay compensation to the victim's family.
In an earlier hearing held in November 2024, the Supreme Court had observed that it would not pass any direction to transfer the trial of the ghastly rape and murder case outside West Bengal.
A bench, led by then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, had rejected an oral prayer moved by a lawyer that the case should be transferred for its trial out of West Bengal.
"Yes, we have transferred cases (of gender violence) in Manipur. But we are not doing anything like that here," it had commented.
The apex court has observed that the trial will begin on November 11 at a special court in Kolkata following framing of charges against the "sole prime accused" in the case, Sanjay Roy.
The process of the framing of charges was completed on November 4, exactly 87 days after the body of the woman junior doctor was discovered at a seminar hall within the state-run R.G. Kar premises on the morning of August 9, 2024.
In October, the CBI filed its first charge sheet against Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police, in the alleged rape and murder case.
In the charge sheet, the CBI did not rule out the possibilities of a larger conspiracy behind the macabre crime that prompted alleged events of tampering and altering of evidence during the initial phase of the investigation which was carried out by Kolkata Police.
Besides Roy, two others arrested by the CBI officials in the matter are RG Kar Medical College and Hospital's former Principal, Sandip Ghosh, and the former SHO of Tala Police Station, Abhijit Mondal. RG Kar comes under the jurisdiction of Tala Police Station.
The charges against Ghosh and Mondal are the most serious charges, including misleading the investigation when the Kolkata Police were investigating the matter before handing it over to the CBI as ordered by the Calcutta High Court. Both have been charged with tampering with evidence in the case.
The Supreme Court had taken suo moto cognisance of the case of the murder and rape case of the young doctor in one of the medical colleges of West Bengal. Observing that incident as "horrific" raises the systemic issue concerning the safety of doctors across this country.
"We are very concerned that there is an absence of safe conditions of work for young doctors across the country, particularly public hospitals," it had said.
The apex court had directed formation of the NTF (National Task Force) to suggest measures for security of medical professionals across the country, observing that the safety of doctors is the "highest national concern".
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