NEW DELHI, (IANS): The Supreme Court on Thursday
remarked that it would not pass any direction to transfer the trial of the
ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical
College & Hospital outside West Bengal.
A
bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, turned down the oral prayer made by a
lawyer seeking transfer of rape and murder trial outside West Bengal.
"Yes,
we have transferred cases (of gender violence) in Manipur. But we are not doing
anything like that here," it remarked.
The
Bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, pursued the 6th
status report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and said that
it would refrain from making any observations since the investigation is
underway.
The
apex court noted that the trial will commence from November 11 at a special
court in Kolkata after charges were framed against the "sole prime
accused" in the case, Sanjay Roy.
The
process of the framing of charges was completed on Monday, 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 this year.
Around
a month ago, 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
main charges against Ghosh and Mondal are for misleading the investigation when
the Kolkata Police were probing the matter before it was handed over to CBI by
the Calcutta High Court. Both have been accused of tampering with evidence in
the case.
The
top court asked the CBI to file a fresh status report before the next date of
listing.
Further,
it ordered that the report prepared by the National Task Force (NTF), set up by
the Union government pursuant to its order in the aftermath of the R.G. Kar
incident, be made available to Chief Secretaries of all state and Union
Territories and other stakeholders, including the doctors’ associations.
The
CJI-headed bench noted that the NTF has formulated recommendations in two
categories, first, prevention of violence against medical professionals and
providing safe working conditions, and, second, prevention of sexual violence
against doctors.
"In
order to enable this court to issue directions for compliance with the NTF
recommendations, we consider it appropriate to direct that a copy of the report
shall be made available to all the counsels appearing in the present batch of
proceedings. The report shall also be supplied to the Chief Secretaries of all
the states/UTs. In the event, any state/UT intends to make any submission with
regard to the recommendations, a brief note of submissions may be filed through
the standing counsel to the court master within a period of three weeks,"
it said.
In
a hearing held last month, the SC had stressed that the NTF should complete its
task within a reasonable timeframe.
"We
are of the view that the Union government must take proactive measures to
ensure that the work of the task force is completed within a reasonable period
in the future. Accordingly, the meetings of the NTF shall be held at periodic
intervals," it ordered, asking the NTF to apprise the top court about its
tentative recommendations by the next date of listing.
"We
will give three weeks to NTF to meet and complete all of its work," the SC
told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The
Supreme Court had ordered the formation of the NTF to suggest measures for the
security of medical professionals across the country, observing that the safety
of doctors is the "highest national concern".
Taking
suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder case of a junior doctor at the
state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the SC had termed
the incident "horrific," which raises the "systemic issue of
safety of doctors across the country".
"We
are deeply concerned about the fact that there is an absence of safe conditions
of work for young doctors across the country, particularly, public
hospitals," it had said.
