Supreme Court Safeguards Doctors Post-Protests at R.G. Kar Medical College

New Delhi, Jan 29 (NationPress) The Supreme Court on Wednesday instructed medical facilities and colleges nationwide to refrain from punishing doctors and medical practitioners who took part in protests against the rape and murder of a junior physician at the state-operated R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, provided they returned to their duties following the apex court's appeal.

On August 22, 2024, the SC had assured resident doctors and interns that no punitive measures would be enforced against them for engaging in protests related to the tragic event.

During the proceedings of the suo moto case titled "Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, and related issues", the Supreme Court had encouraged the protesting medical community nationwide to return to work promptly.

"As this court is addressing the matter concerning the safety and welfare of all medical professionals in their workplaces, and this issue holds significant national importance, we request all doctors currently on strike to resume their duties at the earliest," a bench led by former CJI D.Y. Chandrachud stated.

It emphasized that medical professionals can be assured that their issues are receiving utmost attention from the Supreme Court.

After being informed that several punitive actions, including placing protesting doctors on leave and deducting casual leave, were enforced by various hospital administrations, the bench, which also included Justice Sanjay Kumar, clarified that the absence of doctors who returned to work in accordance with its August 22, 2024 directive would be regularized and not counted as absence.

"This direction is made under unique circumstances and should not be interpreted as establishing a precedent," the CJI Khanna-led bench added.

The Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the rape and murder case of the junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, labeling the incident as "horrific," which raises the "systemic issue of safety of doctors nationwide".

"We are profoundly troubled by the lack of secure working conditions for young doctors across the nation, particularly in public hospitals," it stated.

The apex court had mandated the establishment of a National Task Force (NTF) to propose measures for the safety of medical professionals across the country, noting that the security of doctors is of the "highest national concern".

Meanwhile, a division bench of Justices Debangshu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi of the Calcutta High Court has reserved its ruling on whether to admit the appeals—one from the CBI and another from the West Bengal government—against the special court's ruling convicting civic volunteer Sanjay Roy of the crime and sentencing him to life imprisonment.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that the state government would approach the Calcutta HC to contest the severity of the sentence, seeking the death penalty for the convict.

"I firmly believe this is indeed a rarest of rare cases that warrants capital punishment. We aim to push for the death penalty in this highly sinister and sensitive case," she stated.

However, Deputy Solicitor General Rajdeep Majumdar contended in the high court that only the CBI, as the investigating agency, and the victim's parents could file such a plea, excluding the state government, which is not a party to the case.

On Monday, the victim's father mentioned that they are not currently seeking capital punishment for Roy.

"We want to unveil the identities of all those responsible for my daughter's demise. We seek the harshest punishment for all of them, not just for Sanjay Roy. Thus, we are not pursuing capital punishment for Sanjay Roy at this time. Further details will be provided by our attorney," asserted the victim's father.