Aug 16, 2024 05:45 PM IST
The HC directed the state to file its reply to allegations that the renovation around the third-floor seminar hall of the chest department in the emergency building was ordered to destroy vital evidence
Kolkata: The Calcutta high court on Friday pulled up the West Bengal government for failing to stop the mob attack on Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 15 and questioned the urgency to renovate portions of the emergency building’s third-floor, where a 31-year-old junior doctor was allegedly raped and murdered on August 9.
The division bench of chief justice TS Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya, which ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe from the Kolkata police on August 13, directed the state government on Friday to file its reply to allegations that the renovation around the third-floor seminar hall of the chest department in the emergency building was ordered to destroy vital evidence.
A mob of a few thousand people stormed into the hospital around 12.40am on August 15 and destroyed property on the ground floor emergency ward, a ward on the first floor, and the ENT department on the second floor of the same building while junior doctors were holding their agitation outside seeking justice for the trainee doctor.
The bench pulled up the state for not taking preventive measures to protect the crime scene.
“When so much commotion is going on, doctors on strike, you should have cordoned off the entire area. If suppose 7,000 people have to come, they can’t come walking. This is an absolute failure of state machinery. A sorry state of affairs; how do you think the doctors would be able to work fearlessly?” the chief justice remarked, according to lawyers present at the hearing.
The state’s counsels told the court that the mob comprised around 7,000 people, and several policemen were injured while trying to control it.
The allegations regarding the renovation work were raised by the lawyers who filed five PILs alongside a writ petition by the victim’s parents, leading to the CBI probe.
On Friday, the bench also denied immunity from arrest by CBI to the former principal of the medical college, Dr Sandip Ghosh, who was detained hours later by the federal agency for allegedly skipping summons.
The victim’s body, with multiple injuries in the head, upper body, abdomen, and private parts, was found inside the chest department’s seminar hall on the morning of August 9. Sanjay Roy (31), a civic volunteer working for the Kolkata police, was arrested on August 10 as the prime suspect. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee later said some “insiders” could also be involved.
The division bench on Friday asked the counsels for the state what promoted the government to carry out renovation work near the crime scene after a CBI probe had been ordered.
The state’s counsels told the court that the allegations were not correct because the demolition work was not carried out at the seminar hall. The renovation was being done to build a restroom for doctors, they said.
The bench questioned the timing of the renovation work.
“What was the urgency? You go to any district court complex and see if ladies have any restrooms. I say this with responsibility. What has the PWD done? See the condition of the restrooms in the court complex,” the chief justice remarked, according to lawyers who attended the hearing.
The chief justice then directed the state to file an affidavit with photographs by August 20 to prove that the crime scene is intact. Justice Sivagnanam said he will hear the matter on August 21.
“We direct appropriate police authorities as well as the person-in-charge to file a reply related to the vandalism and all matters connected to it,” the judge said, referring to the August 15 incident.
“Police usually have intelligence on these matters. If 7,000 people gathered, it is hard to believe that state police did not know,” the chief justice observed and asked why orders were not issued in advance to prevent unlawful assembly around the hospital.
The state counsels told the court that rapid action forces have been deployed and efforts are on to trace the vandals.
