RG Kar Hospital Rape-Murder | Centre Moves Supreme Court Seeking Contempt Action Against State Officials For Not Cooperating With CISF, Says Lady Contingent Is Facing Difficulties
In the ongoing suo moto proceedings, following the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today filed an application before the Supreme Court stating that Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel do not have proper accommodation and basic facilities in West Bengal.
"Due to non-availability of accommodations, security gadgets and paucity of transportation, duty personnel are facing a lot of difficulties in performing duties coming from various locations, especially the lady contingent," the MHA stated.
The MHA has further stated that the matter of lack of any accommodation, including separate accommodation for female personnel, shortage of transport, logistics, and inadequate security infrastructure/gadgets, etc., was taken up with the Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal. However, the MHA has stated that they got no response from the state government.
"This non-cooperation is not expected from a State government in a tense situation such as the present one. The safety of doctors, and women doctors in particular, must be the top priority for the State of West Bengal," the MHA said.
Terming the inaction of the State of West Bengal as "symptomatic of a systematic malaise", the MHA has said that despite repeated requests, there is non-cooperation with Central agencies operating under Court orders.
"..the same amounts to wilful non-compliance of the orders of this Hon'ble Court...such wilful non-compliance of the orders of this Hon'ble Court on the part of. theState government is not only contemptuous but it also goes against all the constitutional and moral principles which the State should abide by," the application reads.
The MHA further alleged that the State government is "willingly not making efforts" towards finding a solution to the problem and, rather, is causing injustice to the residents of its own State.
In its application, the MHA also stated that as per the Apex Court's order, the CISF has deployed two companies each having a strength of 92 (total 184 personnel of various ranks), including 54 female personnel under the command of 1 Lady Officer in three shifts with effect from August 22.
The MHA has prayed for the following:
a. To direct the State of West Bengal to extend full cooperation to the CISF in terms of the reasonable requests made by the CISF and ensure full compliance, in letter and spirit, of the order dated 20.08.2024 read with order dated 22.08.2024; and/or
b. In the alternative, initiate contempt proceedings against the concerned officials/authorities of the State of West Bengal for wilful non-compliance of the onders daters 20.08.2024 and 22.08.2024; and/or
c. To pass any other order as the Court deems fit
The matter is scheduled for hearing on September 5, before the bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.
Pertinently, on August 22, the Court urged the doctors to return back to work following the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata, on August 9, 2024. During the pre-lunch session, the Court had expressed concern about the manner in which the West Bengal police have handled the case so far. "The entire procedure that has been followed by the State Police is something that I have not come across in my 30 years of career," Justice Pardiwala remarked.
On the last hearing, the Court had also expressed disappointment over the State of West Bengal's handling of the vandalism at the protest site. The Court had directed the formation of a "National Task Force" to recommend measures for ensuring the safety of medical professionals. Additionally, the Court ordered the deployment of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to protect resident doctors, particularly female doctors, at RG Kar Hospital. The Court had also expressed concerns about the lack of institutional safety norms at medical establishments against both violence and sexual violence.
Last week, Advocate Ujjawal Gaur, a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association, had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India seeking immediate intervention in the rape and murder case of a young doctor at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata.
Recently, the Calcutta High Court had directed transfer of investigation in the case from the Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case. 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 evidence pertaining to the criminal proceedings initiated by them to CBI or any other independent investigating agency.
Earlier, the High Court had questioned the state government over the urgency to carry out renovation work near the crime scene. The Court also grilled the State on the timing of the renovation, asking why it was necessary to undertake such work immediately after the incident. The State's counsel submitted that the renovation was unrelated to the crime scene, explaining that the work was for a new restroom for doctors. The Bench ordered the State to provide a detailed reply on the various aspects of the case by August 20 and scheduled the next hearing for August 21.
Cause Title: In Re: Alleged Rape and Murder Incident of a Trainee Doctor in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and Related Issues [SMW (Crl) No. 000002/2024]