"Administration Was Not With The Victim Or Her Family": Calcutta HC Directs Transfer Of Investigation In Doctor’s Rape & Murder Case To CBI

The Calcutta High Court has directed the transfer of investigation from the Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case of rape and murder of a female doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

The Court was dealing with a batch of writ petitions filed as public interest litigations (PILs) in which the common prayer was to direct the State police authorities to immediately hand over all documents and evidences pertaining to the criminal proceedings initiated by them to CBI or any other independent investigating agency.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya observed, “… it has become imperative and necessary for this Court to exercise its jurisdiction failing which the confidence in the public mind would be shattered and the public confidence will also be jeopardized. … At this juncture, we take judicial notice of the fact that the agitation, which initially commenced in the R.G. Medical College & Hospital has spread over to other institutions in the State of West Bengal. Apart from that the agitations have spread out to other States in the country, which have been widely reported in the newspapers. These are all relevant factors, which have to be borne in mind.”

The Bench said that the public confidence would not connote the public in general alone but since the incident took place in the hospital, which is a Government Hospital, the patients, who are the public concerned should also feel safe and confident that appropriate action is being taken and the investigation proceeds in an appropriate manner and the culprits are brought to books.

"We would be well-justified in making an observation that the administration was not with the victim or the family of the victim.", the court added.

Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya represented the petitioners while Senior Standing Counsel Amitesh Banerjee represented the respondents.

Brief Facts -

There were reliefs sought to install adequate number of CCTV cameras in every floor, roofs of the Government Hospitals and Medical Colleges, to provide adequate resting places and wash rooms to the medical students of the Medical Colleges and Hospitals, more particularly, to the female students, to transfer the investigation to the CBI, to transmit to the High Court the record of the incident, CCTV footage of the particular place and other video footage or records relating to the case as well as the post-mortem report of the victim.

The incident took place on August 9, 2024 at R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, wherein a post graduate trainee doctor, who was on duty was found dead inside the hospital premises, allegedly in half-naked condition. The petitioners alleged that there were injuries over the body of the victim including the private parts and the family members and other persons firmly believe that the death occurred due to rape and murder and was committed by several offenders. The petitioners also stated that the Chief Minister of the State on August 10, 2024 had issued a statement stating that the State has no objection, if the investigation of the alleged incident is transferred to CBI.

The High Court in view of the above facts noted, “As pointed out by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, one of the circumstances, which the Court should take note while transferring an investigation from the State Investigating Agency to any other independent agency is to do justice between the parties and to instill confidence in the public mind. Apart from that when it is necessary for having a fair, honest and complete investigation and particularly when it is imperative to retain public confidence in the impartial working of the State agencies. The circumstances, which we have set out above clearly shows that the public have agitated on the very same day that too in large numbers and it is admitted by the State that Rapid Action Force had to be brought in.”

The Court further noted that the doctors/students in their Memorandum had stated that the Rapid Action Force had assaulted several innocent people and they demand action to be taken against the force.

“Therefore, we deem it appropriate to transfer the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation”, it said.

The Court added that there is pious obligation on the part of the doctors to treat their patients, more particularly the patients, who come to the Government hospital, who are not from the affluent strata of society.

“Therefore, we would appeal to the learned members of the medical profession to discuss with the senior officials of the State Government and consider calling off their agitation so that the public, who come to the hospitals for treatment are not put to prejudice”, it concluded.

Accordingly, the High Court listed the matters after three weeks and directed transfer of investigation to CBI.

Cause Title- XXXXX (Parents of Victim) v. The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Appearance:

Petitioners: Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, Advocates Santi Das Bhowmick, Samim Ahmed, Malay Bhattacharya, Tapas Maity, Amitabha Ghosh, Siddhartha Sankar ondal, Rajit Lal Mitra, Arnab Sinha, Rohan Dwaipayan Bhowmick, Arka Maiti, Saloni Bhattacharya, Arka Ranjan Bhattacharja, Gulswanwara Pervin, and Sohini Adhikary.

Respondents: Senior Standing Counsel Amitesh Banerjee, G.P. Anirban Ray, Advocates T. M. Siddiqui, Tarak Karan, Debraj Sahu, Debangshu Dinda, Suman Sengupta, Amrita Panja Moulick, ASG Ashok Chakraborty, Special PP Amajit De, DSGIs Dhiraj Trivedi, Rajdeep Majumder, Advocates Arijit Majumdar, Mayukh Mukherjee, and Rashmi Bothra.

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