Days after a doctor was raped and brutally murdered in Kolkata, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The court noted serious lapses in the response of the hospital administration after the doctor was found dead in its seminar hall on Friday morning, her clothes in disarray and injuries all over her body.
The parents of the victim, the court said, want an investigation by an independent body to ensure that evidence is not tampered with. The court cited the KV Rajendran case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the power of transferring a case must be used in rarest of rare cases to ensure fair and complete investigation.
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The CBI probe order comes after the high court questioned the West Bengal government as to why a murder case was not registered at the outset and an unnatural death case was initiated.
The high court observed that Dr Sandip Ghosh, the then principal of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital should have been the first person to be questioned in connection with the case.
The bench also questioned the state government’s counsel about why Ghosh was appointed as the principal of another college hours after he resigned. The high court told Ghosh’s lawyer to ask him to go on a long leave by 3 pm, failing which it will pass appropriate orders.
Pulling up the government for appointing Dr Ghosh as the Principal of Calcutta National Medical College shortly after his resignation, the court said, “The appropriate authority should have bore in mind the circumstances under which the resignation was given. Therefore, even that resignation was not accepted, the least that can be expected from the department is to release the Principal from the administrative responsibility and not assign him any other duty of equal responsibility. This professor has been made Principal of another medical college. It is not clear what was the urgency in doing so.”
A doctor was raped and murdered inside a seminar hall at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and her semi-naked body was found on Friday morning. Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer working with the Kolkata Police, has been arrested for the crime.
The police have said that after the murder, Sanjoy Roy – who was not associated with the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, but frequented it – went home and slept in late. Officials told news agency PTI that he washed the clothes he was wearing to destroy evidence and that his shoes, with blood stains on them, were found during a search.
The horrific crime has sparked widespread protests and doctors in several cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The doctors have said that all elective services will be halted till the investigation into the case is complete.
(With inputs from ANI)