The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the first case on Tuesday related to the rape and murder of a postgraduate doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in connection with the ongoing nationwide strike by doctors.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud took note of the incident and included the matter at the top of the list of reasons for holding hearing at 10:30 am on Tuesday.
The hearing of the case assumes significance in view of the fact that the Calcutta High Court is already hearing the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and related issues.
The Supreme Court is likely to expand the scope of judicial review considering the ongoing protests across the country, especially by doctors and their concerns.
Doctors' bodies such as the Federation of Medical Consultants Associations of India (FAMCI) and the Federation of Resident Doctors' Associations (FORDA), along with lawyer Vishal Tiwari, also filed an interim petition in the Supreme Court against the Somo pattern.
In its plea, FAMCI raised concerns over the safety of medical staff in hospitals across the country in the absence of any central law and said medical staff continue to work in hazardous conditions despite years of being asked to take basic safety measures.
The doctors' association said the Center should be asked to formulate uniform guidelines to ensure protection of healthcare workers and address gaps in state-level laws.
“Resident doctors in medical colleges (public and private) and doctors in government hospitals shall be formally declared as 'civil servants',” it said. “Police outposts should be made compulsory in municipal hospitals.” Similarly, FODA, in its intervention petition filed by advocates Satyam Singh and Sanjeev Gupta, said medical officers are committed to 10-11 years of rigorous education and training, including medical college and residency Physicians practice to save lives and serve society.
“Healthcare workers play an integral role in society, often working in challenging conditions, providing care and saving lives. Ensuring their safety is of paramount importance. We urge the judiciary to provide adequate medical services at RG Kar Medical College and other similar Agencies enforce comprehensive security protocols to protect them from any form of threat or violence,” FORDA said.
It said attacks on medical personnel violated several fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution, such as the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, the right to practice any profession or engage in any profession, trade under Article 19(1) or commerce (g) and the right to equality before the law under article 14.
“Issue guidance to plan for, prevent, protect and address the consequences of sexual violence, harassment and gender discrimination against health care workers. In light of the failure of local law enforcement to prevent the attack and subsequent destruction of the crime scene, centrally deployed forces are directed to protect RG Kar medical school and its staff until the case is pending.
It also seeks to formulate guidelines to strengthen safety measures in medical colleges and hospitals across the country to prevent such incidents in the future.
In his plea, lawyer Vishal Tiwari highlighted recent cases of rape and murder in various states and said: “In our application, we have said that in such cases, the investigation must Through a judicial inquiry. The doctors' strike over the rape and murder of medical staff ended a week on Sunday and is now entering its second week, causing hardship for patients.
The protesting doctors hope the CBI will nab the culprits and demand the courts to impose the harshest punishment on them. They also want the government to guarantee that “such incidents will not happen again in the future.”
According to the August 20 cause list uploaded on the Supreme Court website, the bench will include Chief Justice Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.
The alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor in a seminar hall at a public hospital sparked nationwide protests.
On August 9, the doctor's body was found in the seminar hall of the chest department of the hospital with severe injuries on his body.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the investigation from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started the investigation on August 14.
The high court ordered the transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation while hearing petitions, including a petition by the victim's parents praying for a court-supervised investigation.
The High Court held that the mob violence at the hospital was a complete failure of the state machinery and therefore on August 16 directed the police and hospital authorities to file affidavits regarding the situation at the hospital.
The High Court had said it was difficult to believe police intelligence had no information about the gathering of 7,000 people, as the state's lawyers told the court such a large mob had gathered at the hospital in the early hours of Thursday.
(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from United News Agency-PTI)
