The Supreme Court today deep dived into the events at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital on Day One — after the discovery of the body of the 31-year-old doctor who was raped and murdered. And at every step, the judges pointed out discrepancies and anomalies that were more absorbing than any popular whodunit.

In particular, the court’s queries were around three points: The huge time lag between discovery of the body and the lodging of the First Information Report; the death being called unnatural even after a postmortem examination; the sealing of the crime scene after more than 12 hours. All these, the judges indicated, has contributed to a picture of a very distorted investigation.

The ball was set rolling by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

Representing the Central Bureau of Investigation, the senior advocate started by picking holes in the timeline of events presented by the West Bengal government. He said what “surprised him the most” was the filing of the First Information Report at 11.45 pm, after the cremation of the body.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who was leading the three-judge bench, said what intrigued him was that the police filed a General Diary at 10.10 am, turned up, but sealed the crime scene at 10.10 pm. “What was happening there in all that time?” he said.
Once the state clarified the postmortem was finished by 7.10 pm and admitted that the complaint of unnatural death was filed by 11:30 pm.

Justice JB Pardiwala said, “Was it an unusual death? If so, what was the need for an autopsy? Here we can see that at 11:30 pm, an unusual death complaint is filed. And the FIR was filed after 15 minutes? Give accurate information to the court”.

As the state remained silent, he said, “Do not create confusion this way. Have a responsible police officer here at the next hearing”.

“Who is the Assistant Superintendent of Police? There are doubts about his role in the investigation. How did he conduct such an investigation?” he added.

Justice Manoj Mishra chimed in, saying when the postmortem was finished on the evening of August 9, how could the police still file a First Information Report on unnatural death.

When the state clarified that unnatural death was first recorded in the General Diary at 1.45 pm, the judge asked at what time the investigation started. When the state responded that it was at 3.45 pm, Justice Pardiwala ripped into the police.

“I have never seen such investigation in my 30 years of legal career,” he said. “If you filed a case of unnatural death before autopsy, what was the ground? If you have filed an unnatural death case after the autopsy, why did you do so? The autopsy is over and you know the cause of death,” he added.

After the recess, the court’s attention turned again to the delay in filing of the FIR.

“The body was recovered at 9:30 am. And FIR was filed at 11:30 pm. FIR about 14 hours later! Why was the FIR filed 14 hours late? I can’t find any reason for it,” Justice Chandrachud said.

The state had earlier explained that a case of unnatural death is usually filed when there is no formal complaint. The court had said it is the duty of the head of the institution in such cases to lodge a formal complaint.

“Why did the Principal not come to file the FIR? Was anyone stopping him? Why was he transferred to another hospital? The court wants to know the reason for all this,” Justice Chandrachud questioned again today.

Former Principal Sandip Ghosh has been questioned by the CBI every day for a week. Officials said he has not been able to give satisfactory answers to their queries so far. The agency has filed a status report of their investigation to the top court today, the contents of which has not been made public.

The case will be heard next on September 5.

It is horrifying to see that almost 90 cases of rapes occur every day throughout the country, pointed out Mamata Banerjee, referencing data, in her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bengal Chief Minister underlined that this calls for a stringent central legislation, fast-track courts to ensure justice in rape cases.

The letter comes in the wake of a 31-year-old trainee doctor raped and murdered during a rest break at a Kolkata hospital on August 9. The subsequent handling of the case by the authorities had led to massive protests and strikes by doctors across the country. 

“Respected Prime Minister, I wish to bring to your kind attention the regular and increasing occurrence of rape cases throughout the country and in many cases rapes with murder are committed according to the available data, it is horrifying to see that almost 90 cases of rapes occur daily throughout the country. This shakes the confidence and conscience of the society and the nation. It is bounden duty for all of us to put an end to it so that the women feel safe and secure,” Alapan Bandopadhyay, Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister, read the letter at a press conference.

“Such serious and sensitive issue needs to be addressed in a comprehensive manner through stringent central legislation prescribing exemplary punishment against the persons involved in such dastardly crimes. Setting up of fast-track special courts for speedy trials in such cases should also be considered in the proposed legislation to ensure quick justice. Trial in such cases should preferably be completed within 15 days,” the letter added.

Earlier today, a tough talking Supreme Court, which has set up a National Task Force to recommend steps to improve working conditions for healthcare professional, termed “extremely disturbing” the Kolkata Police’s delay in registering the unnatural death of the woman doctor at the RG Kar Hospital.

The top court also asked protesting doctors to get back to work.

Justice and medicine cannot be stopped, the court said while hearing a suo-motu case on the Kolkata doctor’s murder and directed the Centre and the states to take urgent steps to institutionalise the safety of medics across the country.

“We direct the secretary of the Union Ministry of Health to engage with the chief secretaries of the states and directors general of police to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals,” the Supreme Court bench said, while ordering that the exercise be completed in a week.

The bench said peaceful protests over the Kolkata incident shall not be disturbed or disrupted by the West Bengal government. 

On August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started its investigation on August 14.

A civic police volunteer, Sanjoy Roy, was arrested by Kolkata Police a day after the doctor’s body was found. There have been no more arrests so far.

Late on Wednesday night, the Bengal Health Department announced the transfer of three top officials of state-run RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, including its new Principal and Vice Principal.

The decision was taken honouring the demand of the protesting junior doctors and medical students.

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