Supreme Court Takes Up Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: Crucial Hearing Today

KOLKATA: In the midst of on-going protests by junior doctors in Kolkata, the Supreme Court will continue its own hearing on Tuesday, September 17, regarding the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in the city on August 9.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which had taken over the case from Kolkata Police last week on the orders of the Calcutta High Court, will on Tuesday submit a confidential report to the Supreme Court regarding the progress made in the investigation.

Other than the rape and murder case, the CBI is also examining the former principal of RG Kar, Sandip Ghosh, and others for their suspected role in the crime and for suspected financial malpractices during their tenure of in charge.

West Bengal Junior Doctors' Forum Representative

According to news agency IANS, senior lawyer Indira Jaising will represent the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Forum (WBJDF) at the Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday.

Aniket Mahato, one of the strongest junior doctors and an important ally for the movement, confirmed that Jaising will be the lawyer for WBJDF.

Jaising is also an active campaigner for live-streaming of Supreme Court proceedings. Last week, Chandrachud-headed three-judge bench gave its sanction to this issue.

Karuna Nandi and Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay, who are senior lawyers, will represent the Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal as a conglomerate of senior doctors who support the protest of junior doctors.

The State government, however, will still be represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal.

At the last hearing on September 9, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud instructed the protesting junior doctors to return to work by 5 p.m the next day.

The court assured them it would do its best to ensure that the state government did not take any adverse action against them. However, it also said that it could not guarantee protection if the junior doctors continued to refuse going to their duties.

The junior doctors front of West Bengal, ignoring instructions from the Supreme Court, has decided to carry on their protest till the state government meets their demands. Their march to the headquarters of the health ministry, Swasthya Bhavan, led to a face-off with the Bengal government over conditions for negotiations.

They had few live interactions with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the junior doctors wanted some of the discussions to be live-streamed. However, the two sides came to an agreement on Monday night.

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