Taking cognisance of the recent incident of vandalism within the premises of Kolkata's state-run RG Kar hospital amid the peaceful midnight protest over the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old on-duty female junior doctor, the Calcutta High Court on Friday took up a case in connection with the mob attacks. A case is being heard by a bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam.
Terming the incident an 'absolute failure of state machinery', the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court strongly reprimanded the West Bengal government due to glaring lapses in maintaining law and order.
RG Kar vandalism: About the Calcutta HC hearing
According to Live Law, initially, the court was notified that a mob of around 7,000 people gathered inside the hospital premises followed by a sudden increase in the number of people allegedly who broke open the barricades.
The bench also sought to know why permission was granted for public protests on so volatile an issue. "Normally police has an intelligence wing... similar things happened on Hanuman Jayanti. If 7,000 are to gather, it hard to believe police did not know."
Responding to the query, the State responded that no permission had been granted. However, the High Court further reprimanded the state for not taking strong actions. The Chief Justice stated, “You pass Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for any reason. When so much commotion was going on, you should have cordoned off the area." while adding that “7,000 people can’t come walking.”
Lambasting the on-duty police forces over questionable inaction and their ability to save themselves the High Court raised pertinent questions on the safety and security of the on-duty doctors.
"This is an absolute failure of state machinery. So they (the police) couldn't protect their own men? A sorry state of affairs. How will doctors there work fearlessly? You are taking measures? What are the preventive measures?", the court asked.
RG Kar vandalism: Calcutta HC's observations
Recognizing the severity of the incident, the high court in its observations emphasized that such incidents have a severe impact on the morale and confidence of the doctors and medical staff.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on upcoming Wednesday.
Further highlighting the government's administrative drawbacks, the court reiterated that it was the state government's responsibility to create a safe atmosphere for the healthcare professionals enabling them to function without any fear.
The Calcutta High Court Chief Justice also called for immediate and effective steps to be taken to prevent such instances from happening again.
The Court also directed the police to inform the CBI about the entire sequence of events leading to the rape and murder of the on-duty female doctor
CBI has been asked to file an interim report regarding the probe into Kolkata's rape and murder case.
