She was dog-tired. After finishing her 36 hours long regular stint day after day she was at the point of tremendous exhaustion. The only child of an educated and cultured parents, she had finished her MBBS from a medical college in Kalyani, at the outskirts of Kolkata and joined R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital as an intern in the chest medicine department to finish her MD. Since the hospital didn't have any proper rest room for the doctors, the doctors used to take respite at the Sleepers’ room at the intervals of their schedule. On the night of 8 August after finishing 36 hours long work shift she had dinner with four of her junior colleagues. After that her colleagues went to attain their duties and she fell asleep alone in the Sleepers’ Room. She never woke up after that. In the morning of 9 August around 9 a.m. her lifeless body inflicted with violent bruises all over was discovered in the adjacent seminar room without any clothes on it.

On the 10 August, 2024 a civic volunteer named Sanjay Rai was apprehended from the hospital premise in relation to the crime that prompted an impasse and all-out protests among the junior doctors. Sanjay Rai had easy access to the hospital in relation to patient admission. According to the close circuit camera Sanjay was seen entering into the hospital around 3:50 a.m. and leaving the premise 40/45 minutes later. His bluetooth was found beside the lady doctor during the primary investigation.

The Protest Begins

The agitation of the junior doctors had galvanised a huge uproar stopping the medical services at all the state medical colleges demanding proper probe into the matter and an overhaul of the security system since a great number of women work in night shifts. Their protesting rallies and sit-ins in the nearby Shyambazar area had caught public attention following several roughing up of the protesters by the police. The doctors already thwarted all the attempts of BJP and CPIM to politicise the matter. The Indian Medical Association, country's largest body of doctors had asked the hospital authority to arrest the culprits and take necessary steps in the next 48 hours, failing which they would have to face nationwide protests. Police Commissioner of Kolkata,

Vineet Goyal had assured of a stringent punishment to Sanjay Rai. He had been charged with rape and murder based on the findings of the post mortem report.

The chief minister, Mamata Banerjee had initially supported all the demands of the agitating doctors for the arrest and the death penalty of the murderers and the improvement of the security systems as legitimate and said immediate actions will be taken in these respects. Chief Minister had met the parent of the murdered doctor and assured them of a speedy legal actions and delivery of justice. Later she expressed her support for the CBI interference into the matter. She has also requested the junior doctors to resume working while continuing their protest. According to the statement released by the government, the Chief Minister was in constant touch with the Police Commissioner, the health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam and other senior officials enquiring about the developments in the matter.

According to a source in the investigation, CCTV footage has helped them nail Sanjay. “To further confirm Sanjay's presence in the room, his latitude - longitude coordinates between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Friday, 8 August were taken out by tracking his mobile and matched with those of the crime scene." An officer said. Asked about the motive, Commissioner Goyal said, "We are also trying to figure it out. We have asked him.... There was no reason for him to be present there in that odd hour." He also assured the family of the victim with the assistance of the other investigating agencies had they asked for it.

According to the police statement, one witness had seen the lady intern sleeping peacefully under a red blanket in the seminar room around 3 a.m. A police source said, "She was killed about four hours after the consumption of the last meal."

Meanwhile, the entire nursing department of R. G. Kar hospital and all other medical colleges had joined the doctors' movement. Only the emergency department is providing their services with the senior doctors on duty.

According to a junior doctor this agitation had its root in long standing demands of the junior doctors throughout the state. Maltreatment and the lack of security are two prominent issues that have been causing a lot of trouble for them in workplace. These issues have not been addressed properly in spite of their repeated requests.

The opposition are pointing their fingers at the CM saying in the face of this kind of a massacre she is trying to save her image by asking CBI to take control of the investigation.

A Textbook Doctor

According to the statement of an intern, a colleague to the murdered doctor, she didn't have a social networking account. “Her only friends were books. The air of dignity she maintained would not allow anyone to breach her privacy. She was a very quiet and private person who had few friends," recalled the colleague.

The second year lady intern who spend most of her free times studying was extremely co - operative and thorough in explaining to the patients their ailments in details and was prompt in explaining all complex details of the medical examination reports to the patients family members. “She was a textbook doctor. While diagnosing a patient, she would make sure all the tests were conducted and there was scientific backing for whatever conclusion she would reach. If a patient would ask about the diagnosis, she would patiently explain the cause and details of the problem with supporting clinical reports. She was extremely thorough," recalled another colleague.

A doctor, junior to her recalled how she would help the juniors if they sought any academic assistance. “Our conversations were limited to academic discussions. She was extremely helpful when it came to studies. Other than academic issues, she would converse very little," said the young doctor who has done his MBBS from the same medical college as the lady doctor. The doctor's father who has received the news of her demise said she had very few friends. “She had very few friends. She would talk about them sometimes at the dinner table with us.“ The heartbroken father said.

Another colleague had lamented how happy she was after having been selected as a post graduate trainee in R. G. Kar Hospital, “She was so happy that day. We had all asked for a treat. She promised us momos from a shop in Newtown. Unfortunately, she will not be able to keep her promise. I still cannot believe what happened."

IMA Warns of Nationwide Protest

The IMA which has a membership of around 400,000 doctors around the country had asked the hospital authority to arrest the culprits and take necessary steps in the next 48 hours, failing which they would have to face nationwide protests. It had called for a detailed inquiry into “the conditions" that enabled the crime. "The crime is an index of the anarchy and the insecurity prevailing on the campus." The IMA has also said it “mourns the death of this precious daughter of India and condemns these existing situations which enabled this crime to be committed with impunity inside the campus. If safety and security cannot be ensured in the citadels of learning, it only indicates the incompetency of the administration. The entire medical community of India is shocked beyond words at the brutal murder.... and stands with the bereaved family and her colleagues." The IMA also said, the women doctors were especially vulnerable to these crimes due to the nature of their jobs. The authorities should have provided with much more security measures for the women doctors inside the campuses of the hospitals.

The state government has assured the protesting medical students and interns of fulfilling their demands for duty rooms and toilets for the doctors, but doctors have decided to continue their protests. They have firmly stated that the hospital didn't have any rest room for them resulting them take rest in other rooms and wards which are unsafe and uncomfortable for them.

Several nursing students at the R. G. Kar hospital have complained on August 10 that many wards don't even have a proper wash room for them.

But the protesting junior doctors continued to cease work, "We want the police to tell us what evidence they found, because of which they have arrested the civic police volunteer. We want to be sure that they are not shielding any heavyweight and merely arresting a pawn. We also want to see the post mortem report, “said a junior doctor.

Other protesting junior doctors also reverberated these demands at different medical colleges and hospitals. “We will end our cease work only when we are satisfied that there is an honest attempt by the authorities to conduct a transparent and fair investigation. Their actions and what they do going forward will make their intent clear."

Rain Could Not Deter Their Spirit

Incessant rain could not deter their spirits. The junior doctors continued their sit-ins asking justice for the gang rape and murder of their good colleague. The MBBS trainees, post graduate trainees and house staffs at the Calcutta National Medical College hospital started a sit-in. " We are on a cease work in solidarity with the protesting doctors at R. G. Kar," said a junior doctor. Junior doctors at Medical College, Kolkata also stopped their work and brought out a rally.

Commissioner of police, Kolkata, Vineet Goyal had dismissed the allegations that his department was trying to shield some high ranking influential people involved in this murder. The assistant commissioner of police, North Division, Chandan Guha who was in charge of the R. G. Kayal security has also been transferred on junior doctors' demands. Earlier on 11 August, Medical Superintendent and the Vice Principal of R. G. Kar had been removed from his positions. Bulbul Mukhopadhyay, a professor of that medical college has been appointed in his place.

The junior doctors continued with their protests. “Our demands have not been met yet. Our cease work continues." The Commissioner of Police has said, " This is our appeal to the students. If they have any information about any person's involvement, we will look at it from all perspectives. We have nothing to hide." A toll free number would be opened for medicos to share the information with the police. The Kolkata Police later launched the number,1800 345 5678.

Commissioner Goyal said, “We will talk with all persons concerned. We will take opinion from forensic experts.... regarding one person or more people, based on the injury marks on the victim and the injuries on the accused." Commissioner met the students in the evening along with Additional, Joint and Deputy Commissioners. "They asked us lot of questions about the investigation. We told them we were carrying out a transparent investigation. And there was no question of anyone being shielded," said a senior officer.

When asked whether agitating doctors' demands of showing them autopsy report and CCTV footage had been met or not, Commissioner Goyal said, " the report has been shared with the family. " And about the close circuit camera footage, " We can't go against the Supreme Court order." One doctor who met Goyal said the commissioner had promised to show them the autopsy report and the CCTV footage. But it can't be shared with (copies couldn’t be given to) us, the commissioner said.

The names and photos of several doctors are doing the rounds on the social media mentioning those are missing since the crime has been committed. Messages accused a hospital official of putting the blame on the lady doctor herself for her death.

The cease work at the government hospitals are creating painful troubles for serious patients. According to a senior physician, if the impasse remains restricted to the outdoor and indoor ward they can handle the situation. " But it is difficult for us to handle the emergency ward where the critical patients come." At the NRS hospital in Sealdah only very critical patients were being allowed to enter the emergency ward, according to a guard. At the R. G. Kar the impasse was extended even to the emergency ward.

"Our demands have not been met. It is not possible for one person to inflict this kind of torture on a woman. We still suspect more than one person was involved," said an agitating doctor. "We want the police to arrest the culprits with proper evidence and brief us or a committee that has been formed by the hospital to probe the doctor's death. We are also demanding a judicial probe, something the government has yet to accept."

The statement issued by the protesting doctors at R. G. Kar on Sunday, 11 August said they would " continue our cease work of emergency as well as non-emergency duties until all our demands are met." The demands are:

1. Immediate judicial inquiry and arrest of the culprits with proper evidence.
2. Capital punishment for the culprits.
3. The relevant evidence including CCTV footage and post mortem report should be shared with the representatives of the protesting doctors.
4. Written apologies and resignation from higher authorities (principal, vice principal and head of chest medicine at R. G. Kar as well as the on-duty Assistant Commissioner of Police at the R. G. Kar police outpost within 12 hours.
5. Immediate announcement of the adequate compensation for the victim's family.
6. Regular written update on the investigation.

The Principal Wields His Clout

Many young doctors have pointed at the loopholes in the investigation. The autopsy of the deceased doctor happened at R.G. Kar. "There are serious allegations against the institution itself. In such a situation the autopsy should have been at a neutral place for the sake of fairness," said a doctor at the Resident Doctors Association at R. G. Kar. Another

protesting post graduate trainee told, " The principal is the head of the institution. He has to take the moral responsibility for the gruesome incident and go." When asked about the plight of the patients if the emergency ward remained closed, a junior doctor said, " we have been forced to do this. No one is listening to us. The young woman who was raped and murdered was one of us."

A substantial number of the protesting students have vented their angers at the principal, Sandip Ghosh. " He wields a lot of clout. He would fail us in exams for taking part in protests for something as little as hostel lights." On two occasions last year, Sandip Ghosh was transferred to Murshidabad Medical College . But soon after, those transfer orders were revoked. The first order issued on May 31 was revoked within the next 48 hours. And the second order issued on September 11 was revoked within a month. Late in the evening of 12 August resident doctors from several medical colleges had held a meeting at the Medical College, Kolkata. " It was unanimously decided that junior doctors will not attend emergency duties till our demands are met. We will scale up our protests to a pan India level, if needed," said a protesting doctor at the end of the meeting. The demands follow exactly what the doctors at R. G. Kar hospital had asked for.

Meanwhile, a team from Kolkata Police under an additional commissioner had visited the house of the deceased lady doctor on 11 August. The family members said the police shared with them the post mortem report and the electronic evidence based on which Sanjay Rai was arrested. But the most important and fearful thing was what the lady doctor's father had shared. The lady was " unhappy working at R. G. Kar. She was under tremendous pressure. Five times a month she had to do this 36 hours duty at a stretch. Also, she was facing problems as she was on night shift with four male doctors," he lamented.

The Chief Minister’s Visit To The House of The Murdered Lady Doctor and A Veiled Attempt To Hush Up The Matter

On 12 August, Mamata Banerjee had met the bereaved parents of the lady doctor. After meeting she said the parents were suspecting the involvement of more than one person from the R. G. Kar hospital staff in the killing of their daughter.

In an interview the mother of the lady doctor said she told Mamata Banerjee that the arrested main accused Sanjay Rai was not the main culprit. There were other people involved in the crime. " We faced so much harassment till the body was brought. They kept us under pressure. The police also tried to damage my daughter's car. I said my daughter has just passed away, please do not damage her car."

"The Chief Minister told me the main accused has been arrested. I told her I don't consider the person to be the main accused. If someone from inside was not involved, how could he ( Sanjay) get to know that my daughter was alone ? “asked the helpless mother." Someone from inside was definitely involved. The Chief Minister looked at the police officer accompanying her and said this was my question too."

The Chief Minister visited the bereaved parents on 12 August. The mother also said the police was trying to divert the case initially by telling her that her daughter was ill, showing her some medicines and prescriptions while preparing the seizure list. "I was present when the seizure list was being prepared. The police took out some reports from my daughter's bag. They were trying to divert the case. They told me ' your daughter was sick, she used to have so many medicines. There are so many reports. I told them my daughter was having medicines because of an unknown bite mark. After which they could not divert the matter."

The mother of the lady doctor also said they received the first call from the hospital on August 9 at 10:53 a.m. She said they reached the hospital at 12:30 p.m. and were allowed to see the daughter's body at 3 p.m. They were pressurized to sit at the chest medicine department for the entire period. The mother kept on requesting police,”let me atleast see the face of my daughter.” But police kept on denying saying important work were going on in the seminar room!

The police had asked seven junior doctors , on duty at the night of the murder and a food delivery boy believed to have delivered the last food to the lady doctor on that night, to appear at the Lal Bazaar. They were released after questioning. Thousands of protesters participated in a two kilometres long procession.

Principal Resigns In The Morning, Receives Prize Posting In The Evening 

R. G. Kar principal Sandip Ghosh had submitted his resignation but by some mysterious way was appointed the principal of the Calcutta National Medical College later that day.

Public everywhere have vented their ire over his blaming the lady doctor herself for her death. " If someone from inside the hospital is involved, if there is suspicion on anyone among the victim's friends, the police should call and question them," said Mamata Banerjee. " And if they fail to probe the case by Sunday 11 August - because people from inside are also there - we will not keep the case with us. We will hand it over to the CBI. The police assured they were looking into the matters of insider's involvement in the crime according to the lady doctor's parent’s suspicion along with her problems with four male doctors during the night shifts.

The Mysterious Autopsy and The Cremation Of The Lady Doctor

The family had also alleged that the assistant superintendent of the hospital had called them in the morning on 9 August and told their daughter was ill. After that in another phone call the Assistant Superintendant told them that their daughter had committed suicide. The assistant superintendent and the head of the chest medicine department were summoned to Lal Bazaar on 13 August. What came out was an indication towards a horrible conspiracy to suppress the dangerous crime.

According to the rule in cases of death by rape, gang rape and murder the body of the deceased were preserved and second and even third post mortem were also conducted. But in this case only after one post mortem the body was hurriedly brought to the victim’s house to show the parent for the last time and then n’ there the body was taken to the Panihati crematorium and cremated. R. G. Kar Hospital had modern facility to preserve the body under 4 degree temperatures. The body could have been preserved easily.

Even the only inquest was done by Dr. Molly Banerjee, Dr. Reena Das and Dr. Apurba Biswas, all bona fide henchmen of the state government. The post mortem was conducted at the epicenter, R. G. Kar Hospital that was also a desperate flouting of the rule. Because in this kind of cases the post mortem should have been conducted by the third party authority in order to maintain the transparency of the procedure.

From a source in the crematorium, it was later known that there was tremendous pressure on them from the high level in the West Bengal government to cancel the cremation of the bodies waiting beforehand and begin the cremation of the body of the lady doctor as soon as possible. The men of the crematorium followed that dreadful command. Thus, so much valuable evidences were burnt to ashes.

1. Why the Kolkata Police didn’t hand over the body to the parent of the deceased lady doctor?
2. Who gave Kolkata Police the authority to cremate the body of the lady doctor without even taking the consent of the lady doctor’s parent?
3. Why the post-mortem of the lady doctor was conducted in the evening? Since according to the rule autopsy could not be conducted after 4 pm in the afternoon ?

The state health department had removed the medical superintendent and the head of the chest medicine department from their positions. "We still suspect there was more than one person involved in the rape and murder of the 31-year-old post graduate trainee doctor. When we asked police officers on 11 August whether they felt there could be more than one person involved in the crime, they said they were not sure. So we are demanding judicial inquiry,"

said a protesting junior doctor. Commissioner Goyal and other senior officers had again met few protesting students on 11 August. The students were against the appointment of Bulbul Mukhopadhyay as the new Medical Superintendent and the Vice Principal of the hospice and medical college.

The Mass Panic Engulfs The Common Citizens

An audio clip of a conversation between two doctors had surfaced in the social media where one was telling the other that a particular doctor was involved in the crime, whom he knew very well. But out of fear for his own danger he could not tell his name. Huge numbers of protesters from other medical colleges and students from the Presidency College had also joined the agitation at R. G. Kar.

On 12 August there was a huge women's rally. The repercussions this horrible incident had on public mind had been grave. A first year college student who travel by train from Champahati in South 24 Parganas to Sovabazar six days a week said she was scared for herself and her mother, a nurse who has to do night shifts. A third year nursing student at Calcutta Medical College, about to begin her internship said, " My internship is going to start soon and I will have to report for night duty. My parents who live in Murshidabad are worried after this incident," said Puja Biswas one participant in the rally. The State Health Department had unofficially asked the senior doctors to provide extra service in order to run the emergency wards.

CBI Steps In

On 13 August the Calcutta High Court handed over the case to the CBI. A division bench headed by Chief Justice T. Sivagnaman had sent Sandip Ghosh on leave until further directions. It said Ghosh was not permitted to hold the position of the Principal of the National Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta until further directions.

"Even after the lapse of five days there appears to be no significant progress in the investigation," the bench said. It also said the case was being handed over to the CBI in order to " instill confidence in public mind. As pointed out by the Honourable Supreme Court one of the circumstances which the court should take note of 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," the bench which included justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya, said in its written order. "At this juncture we take the judicial notice of the fact..... that the agitation has spread over to other institutions of the state....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.... Therefore we deem it appropriate to transfer the investigation to the CBI." The bench allowed the central agency three weeks to file a preliminary report.

The main petitioners, " the parents of the victim apprehend that if the state police are permitted to continue the investigation, in all probabilities, the investigation will be derailed," the bench said. Any further delay would result in " destruction of evidence" and " influencing of witnesses". During the long hearing the court had questioned about Kolkata Police's arrest of only one suspect since there were several allegations that more than one person was involved in that heinous gang rape and murder. The bench also questioned the tearing urgency with which Sandip Ghosh was transferred as the principal of another medical college. It asked why Sandip as the principal of the R.G. Kar medical college had not filed a complaint immediately after the body of the lady doctor was discovered calling it " a clear dereliction of duty on the part of the principal." The bench also rebuked the police for not recording Ghosh's statement. Senior lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the counsel for the victim's parents had sought for the protection of his clients. The court asked him to approach the police.

The High Court Questionnaire Raises Important Clues In A Heavily Hushed-Up Conspiracy

The Calcutta High Court on 13 August had raised several questions about the entire investigation. Exactly these questions have been going on in common civilians' mind.

Why the probe has been so slow?

Inspite of countless allegations of many persons' involvement in the crime why the police ended up by arresting only one civic volunteer ? The police said they have made the arrest on the basis of electronic evidence and other evidence collected from the crime scene.

Sandip Ghosh, "the then principal of the R. G. Kar Medical College either by himself or by issuing appropriate directions could have lodged a complaint with the Police. Since the death occurred within the hospital premises. Why he didn't do so?

Why did police file a case of unnatural death instead of murder at first?

"When the deceased victim was a doctor working in the hospital, it is rather surprising as to why the principal/hospital didn't lodge a formal complaint. This in our view was a serious lapse, giving room for suspicion," the court said.

Why have the police not recorded Sandip Ghosh's statement?

We had asked the learned Senior Standing Counsel as to whether the statement has been recorded from the Principal....The reply at the time of hearing was that no statement has been recorded," the court said.

The police said they had summoned Ghosh to appear but he didn't turn up. Now since within a day of the incident the person who was directly involved in the crime was arrested, recording the other person's statement was at the discretion of the police, said a police officer. The question was how did the police become so sure that the civic volunteer Sanjay Rai was the one and only perpetrator of that crime, at the very beginning without even interrogating the other suspects?

Why was Ghosh rewarded a fresh appointment so soon after his resignation from R. G. Kar's post?

"It is difficult to comprehend as to why when a person submits his resignation, the concerned authority of the state did not exercise the two options, which are available, i.e. either to accept the resignation or to refuse to accept the resignation.... if he has been assigned another responsibility, equivalent to the responsibility held by them, it would be tantamount to putting a premium," the order said. However, the protesting doctors at Calcutta Medical College said they would not allow Ghosh to resume his tenure as their new Principal. "Our college is not a dumping ground. He ( Ghosh) cannot be dumped here," said an agitating doctor.

Doctors' Association alleged that Ghosh was involved in several corruption and each time was saved by a highly influential body in the Trinamool Congress government. Twice last year Ghosh was transferred from R. G. Kar on corruption charges to Murshidabad Medical College and each time he was back soon after using his high level connections.

Among the allegations towards him, ".... manipulation of tender processes and selling biomedical waste in the open market. PULs were also filled in those matters . The then Assistant Superintendent of the hospital Akhtar Ali spoke against these irregularities," said Manas Gomta, a former General Secretary of the Association of Health Service Doctors, a forum of doctors working in government hospitals.

Hours after the case was handed over to the CBI, a group of protesting doctors have pointed their fingers at the state government of tampering with the evidences. "Why did the PWD start the renovation job on the same floor, just opposite the seminar hall where the incident happened ? Is it not an attempt to tamper with the evidences ? " asked a junior doctor.

Women, Reclaim The Night

On 10 August a 29 year old sociology post graduate research fellow from Presidency College, Rimjhim Sinha shouted the battle cry " Women Reclaim The Night" on social media demanding

justice for the lady doctor's rape and murder alongside the safety in women's night transport, night shifts at the workplace and provisions for separate rest rooms for female employees at workplaces . Addressing these issues she had called women across all ages to gather at Jadavpur

8B bus stand , College Street at central Kolkata and in front of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata on 14 August at 11:55 p.m.. Within the next 24 hrs. what had happened was beyond her imagination. Her post had gone viral creating a wild sensation throughout West Bengal. She started getting appreciative as well as affirmation calls from all corners of the state that people were going to organise the gatherings. Thus by 14 August her call for solidarity had surpassed the border of this country and created overseas waves among the Indian populace at all corners of the world. Kolkata became the centre point of an international movement. On the night of 14 August starting at around 10 p.m. millions and millions of people crossing gender and age barriers from all corners of Kolkata, West Bengal and India came out on road shouting " We want justice / we want justice". When the writer of this article went to Jadavpur bus terminus, among the other slogans there was " Tomar Ghar, Amar Ghar / R. G. Kar, R. G. Kar." ( My home, your home / R. G. Kar, R. G. Kar). Indian populations in different countries had addressed the issue in gatherings at different times of 14 August. Thus people all over India stayed the entire night of 14 August on road. The spirited lady Rimjhim Sinha's vision came true. From The Darkness Of Night Dawns The Light Of A New Independence Day.

State Sponsored Mob Violence To Defame The Mass Protest And Destroy The Evidences

But in front of the epicenter, R. G. Kar hospital around 12:30 p.m. on 14 August, a huge crowd of 7000 hooligans with wooden and iron rods in hands from the nearby places called Belgachhia, Dumdum, Lake Town and Park Circus stormed into the peaceful gathering creating panic among people, ransacking the entire protest activities. They then entered the hospital building, destroyed a great amount of hospital property, threatened to come back the next day and rape the nurse fraternity and the remaining lady doctors.

To their wild nightmare the nurses saw the nearby police men running with their lives and hiding inside bathrooms and other places of the hospital asking the nurses to save their lives. Strangely enough the police force outside remained stand still all the time. Only after completing the ramshackle when the hooligans came out, the police started charging them with sticks and tear gas. Among the press and media personnel, the female journalists ran amok in great panic taking shelter inside dark labyrinths of the hospital. People and press were not fools. On that night it became clear to everyone that it was state sponsored attack to dissipate and defame the " Reclaim" movement. From the very next day among the public furor the police began their search operation and till now only a handful of raiders had been arrested. What was little strange was that several women from across the city had also taken part in that vandalism. The arrested women's residences ranged from Garia to Dumdum. Many marauders are still at large. Police had sought the assistance of the citizens in identifying and locating these goons.

" This attack will only strengthen our resolve to seek justice for the rape and murder of one of our colleagues," said one doctor on August 15. Later in the afternoon Governor C. V. Ananda Bose had met the agitating doctors at R. G. Kar hospital when the junior doctors had sought for his help. " They vandalised the general emergency and the ENT departments. They tried to shake our spirit. But failed to do that. We need your help. Support us, so we get justice for our colleague," a young doctor was heard saying these to the Governor over microphone. Ananda Bose took the microphone and said " you will get justice. I have come here to listen to you personally. I am with you. We will fight it out. We shall overcome. We will not allow these ghastly things to be done about our sisters anymore in this state. We will work together. Let me go to the police and see what happened. Let me take stock of the situation. We will take positive action that will be exemplary for others. "

The students had hid themselves inside the ward and other departments when the vandalism was going on. At past midnight of 15 August at the pick of the "Reclaim The Night" movement while the protesting students were preparing for a march towards Shyambazar crossing, those vandals broke in through a lapse in police vigil. " We will continue with our cease work. We request people from all walks of society to join us and support our movement," said post graduate trainee. " If anyone thought we would back off from the protest because of the vandalism, they are mistaken. We are firm in our resolve."

“They started thrashing patients, doctors and whoever was in front of them. All of us were hiding in whatever places we could. They have vandalised the chairs and fans where we are holding our demonstration. We are afraid for what happened, but our movement will not stop. It will continue," said Hassan Mushtaq, a post graduate trainee at R. G. Kar hospital.

On 15 August, two members of the hospital's forensic department and a head of the Pulmonary Medicine department were summoned at the CGO Complex in Saltlake for examination. The lady doctor's autopsy was conducted in the afternoon of 9 August in the presence of the

Judicial Magistrate. The entire procedure was video recorded. Four young doctors were also questioned at the CGO Complex on 15 August. In the afternoon they were released.

CBI Visits The R. G. Kar

A CBI team had visited the R. G. Kar Hospital along with a team from Central Medical and Forensic Department to collect evidences. After inspecting few spots in hospital they visited the seminar room in the Emergency department where the lady doctor's body was found. They had carried a 3D laser device with them to reconstruct the crime scene. The CBI was handed over all the articles of evidence by the Kolkata Police. They had also collected CCTV camera footage. A special team from Kolkata Police accompanied CBI in their search. The CBI had taken the prime suspect of the crime Sanjay Rai into custody and conducted his second medical test in B. R. Singh hospital at Sealdah.

On 14 August the junior doctors of Bengal's medical colleges continued with their cease work until all of their demands were met, the principal among which was to be arrested the main culprits within the next 48 hours with concrete evidences. They have also demanded a list of evidential articles that Kolkata Police had collected from the crime scene so far. Among their other demands they asked for :

1. Written apologies from the former Principal, Medical Superintendent, Dean of Students Affairs, Head of Chest Medicine department and the Assistant Superintendent who was on duty on that particular day, the lady doctor was killed.
2. A clarification and copies of the official renovation order and letters of the chest medicine department.
3. Adequate securities in all medical colleges and healthcare facilities.
4. Public apology for the assault on medical students that Kolkata Police had carried out on 10 August.
5. Strict, necessary and immediate actions by the Police Commissioner against online defamation of some agitating R. G. Kar students.

Nationwide Strike In Healthcare Industry

The Health Ministry had given verbal assurance to the members of Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) who are on an indefinite nationwide strike since 12 August addressing the rape and murder of the lady doctor at R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, for the proposed legislation to curb the violence against medical workers in workplace. The federation represents the post graduate interns and doctors of the country. According to

Subhankar Dutta, the National Vice President of FAIMA, " We now have verbal assurance from ministry officials that they will set up a committee to re - examine such a law" which the ministry had drafted in 2019 but cancelled it later. " We will wait for a written communication before we will think about de-escalating the protests," said Dutta. " We don't want to take decision (on the strike) before something in writing emerges from the ministry. As of now the strike continues," said Manish Jangra, the Founder and Chief Advisor of FAIMA.

CBI Visits The Deceased Doctor’s Home

A central team with a joint director had visited the parents of the lady doctor at her home in the northern fringes of the city. For more than an hour the conversation went on. The officers asked about the minutest details about the last six months of lady doctor's life. The investigating sleuths have gone through all the journals, diaries and notebooks of the lady doctor for possible clues and asked the parents why did they think their daughter was under pressure in the hospital during her last days. The father said being the only female member of her team she was under constant pressure from four of her senior male colleagues. He also informed the CBI officers about the hospital's attempt to misrepresent it as suicide. The officers have assured the parents of probing the matter from all possible angles.

Commissioner Goyal asked people to have faith in the CBI investigation. " The case has gone to CBI . Let's have trust in the agency that is investigating this case. They will also come up with scientific evidence. Whatever we had to prove in whatever time we had, our officers have done everything possible. The agency would find out any loopholes, any deliberate evidence destructions or anything which our team might have done. " He said responding to questions on allegations of Kolkata Police tampering with the evidences. " We are liable for legal actions if there is anybody in our group who has done anything wrong, we are liable for it. There is a different investigating agency . Why are people so impatient ? Have faith in the new investigating agency."

In the wake of R. G. Kar incident the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has asked for two hourly reports on law and order situation from all the states that has started from 4 p.m on 17 August.

A Solidarity Call Abroad

Non residential Indian communities and Indians staying abroad for the sake of profession and advanced studies had gathered in peace protest march and candle light vigil at night in cities like Munich, New York, New Jersey, London and cities of Canada. A large number of them happened to be pass outs from Jadavpur University, Calcutta Medical College and even R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. In Munich an Indian student came from 20 km away to join the protest. A family came with their four months old baby . The mother said had they got stranded midway anywhere due to incessant rain, she would have got out of the car and stood on the sideway with a candle in her hand at the exact hour of the protest. Such was the gravity of these people's emotions.

Supreme Court Steps In

On the other hand on 19 August in a very rare move the Supreme Court had decided to take suo motu cognisance of the case. Generally Supreme Court did not interfere when High Court takes cognisance of a case. August 19 being a public holiday for Raksha Bandhan, the process began on August 20 by the bench of Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Justice J. B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra had taken the R.G. Kar hospital gang rape and muder case of the second year lady intern as a special criminal writ petition at 10:30 a.m. The case was titled "In Re : (regarding) Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and related issues."

Padma Awardee Doctors Appeal To The Prime Minister

On August 18 a dignitary of 70 Padma awardee doctors had forwarded a written appeal to the Prim Minister, Narendra Modi to take a "quick and decisive action" and “stronger measures"

including " harsher and time - bound punishments" in order to curb the sexual violence and other kinds of violence against the health care workers in the country. " Such acts of brutality shake the very foundations of service by medical professionals and highlight the need to address violence, particularly against women, girls and healthcare professionals," they wrote in their letter. These demands are similar to those placed by resident doctors' associations and Indian Medical Association whose team of representatives along with members from a nationwide federation of postgraduate medical residents had met the Union health ministry on this issue. According to a signatory of the above mentioned letter, " The discontent among physicians and healthcare workers , spanning corporate and government hospitals, age groups and positions is a critical issue demanding urgent attention," said Anoop Misra, chair of Fortis centre for Diabetes, Cholesterol and Obesity, New Delhi. The Padma awardees also called for " harshest possible punishment for violence against healthcare workers ," irrespective of the nature of violence, physical or verbal. Such offences should be put into non - bailable category. " Let this tragedy serve as category for real, lasting change. We owe it to Nirbhaya and to all victims of sexual violence and to future generations to create a society where such horrors are unthinkable," the letter quoted.

A loose page, tore apart from a diary found near the lady doctor had been handed over to the CBI. According to the father of the lady doctor that page contained the lady intern's wishful thinking about winning the gold medal at the completion of the MD that she was pursuing at R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The Autopsy Report

On 20 August, the post mortem report of the deceased lady doctor said the external and internal genitalia of the lady doctor weighed "151 grams". Within the genitalia was a "white thick viscid liquid" that has been sent for examination. The examination would determine the exact number of the DNA strains present apart from her own. " Apart from her own DNAs, if the presence of a second or more DNAs was established, then those DNAs have to be matched separately with the DNAs of the suspects. " A senior forensic specialist said. This kind of test would take weeks.

According to the autopsy report, the cause of death was manual strangulation and associated smothering. There was evidence of forceful penetration, insertion in her genitalia, possibility of sexual assault. According to the report when the body was dissected, there was 16 external wounds and 9 internal wounds. There were 185 grams of food residue in the stomach , but there was " no peculiar smell" . According to a forensic expert "no peculiar smell" meant there was no presence of toxicant, like alcohol. Another doctor related to this investigation said, in case of asphyxial death, a certain body fluid is discharged from the body's openings, " It could be through nostrils, the corners of the eyes, or other openings including genitalia openings. In case of sexual assault this fluid in the genitals could be contaminated with the body fluids of the attacker. "

There were multiple bruises on her body including nose, lips, neck, arms, shoulder and knees. A torn hymen with blood oozing out and hemorrhagic spots on the inner side of her epiglottis. The epiglottis is a lid of cartilage that prevents food and drinks from entering the wind pipe and lungs when a person swallows.

According to the report, the routine viscera, PM blood, few collected scalp hair, nail cuttings and scrapings from both hands, wet vulgar mop, pubic combings were collected, preserved, sealed and packed before those were handed over to the police. The name of the person who videographed the entire autopsy procedure was also mentioned on the report.

The CBI Additional Director, Sampat Meena heads the CBI team

The CBI Additional Director, Sampat Meena was called for heading the 24 member team of the investigating CBI team . The IPS officer Meena had headed the 19 year old Dalit girl's rape and murder case in Hathras 2020 and the 17 year old Dalit girl's rape and murder case in Unnao in 2017 in Uttar Pradesh.

Regressive Guidelines Against Late Night Work of Women

A set of 17 guidelines have been issued to ensure women's safety in the workplace that included minimising the night shift work hours has drawn sharp criticisms. "An effort will be made to exempt women from night shifts wherever and to whatever extent possible.” the statement said. "This statement is short - sighted, regressive and damaging said a declaration from the Nari Dibas Mancha, an organisation, works to ensure women's safety in work places. "The government's duty is to ensure that women should be able to work anywhere in state safely and with dignity. As doctors, nurses, Asha workers, gig workers, social workers and journalists women need to work in different professions during the night. If their work hours are reduced, many will lose their jobs and income," the declaration stated. " Most of all, the women have the right to work at night. Why should this right be taken away because of the failure of the police and the administration? This proposal is against women's rights. "

Sharmishtha Dutta Gupta, writer and activist said "I am shocked beyond words at the issuance of such a regressive guidelines. This helps shift the focus from the deep seated corruption and misogyny in the healthcare system, which we need to look into the eye. While minimising the night shifts of women doctors, would the government also be minimising the night shifts of female attendants, nurses, sweepers and security staffs ? If so, then who would take care of the female wards at night ? "According to Naba Dutta who had worked for years for the rights of women wage workers said, night shifts could be double edged tool for women. At the time of joining the women were told to overlook the dangers of night shifts and join. If they didn't agree, they lost their jobs. " In West Bengal there are about 18000 factory establishments and several thousand other workplaces. Very few of them have the internal committee to address sexual harassment. The number can be counted on one's finger."

In a horrible revelation it came out that in jute industry women workers in night shift are not allowed a separate room for changing. They aren't even provided with a separate bathroom. As a result women are not able to share same bathroom with the male workers. " As a result women workers do not go to the toilet and develop urinary tract infections . This is true of the bidi industry as well, a recent research shows. If the government asks women not to join night work, it only shows the administration's failure to deal with crime against women." Dutta said.

Among the guidelines other mentions of separate toilets for women, women working together and a help app called Rattirer Sathi had been welcomed. 

A Gap Of 25 Minutes

The CBI has said there was a gap of 25 minutes between the former principal of R. G. Kar Medical College Sandip Ghosh coming to know about the death of the lady doctor and the police outpost being informed of the death. " There was a gap of around 25 minutes. We are trying to ascertain the reason for this gap," said the CBI officer. According to the senior officers of Kolkata Police, Ghosh was informed about that death around 9:45 a.m. on 9 August. " He came to know about the death at 9:45 a.m. But he sent a closed envelope to Tala Police station informing them about the death at 3 p.m. He described the incident in a few lines. The Commissioner of the city police and other senior officers had reached the hospital long before that," said an officer of the city police.

Tala police station was informed that an unconscious body of a female doctor was found, at first.

Sandip Ghosh was quizzed at the CGO Complex about the sequence of events that followed immediately after the body of the lady doctor was found inside the seminar room on August 9. CBI asked Ghosh about the standard operating procedure on the entry and the exit of outsiders at R. G. Kar hospital. "He was asked about the system that had been in place and if he had thought the system was adequate." Said a CBI officer.

Ghosh was also questioned about the renovation work of a particular section on the third floor of the emergency building where the seminar room was located. The basin of the adjacent bathroom where the rapists and murderers had washed themselves, had been removed and destroyed removing extremely valuable evidences. Even the broken pieces of ceramics of that broken bathroom wall had been taken away destroying more valuable evidences. Multiple allegations had surfaced against Sandip Ghosh.

The Parent Suspects

The parents of the lady doctor complained several times that their daughter was under tremendous pressure as she was not being able to perform her duties because of pressures from four senior doctors in the hospital during night shifts.

CBI Takes Next Step

CBI also questioned Sandip Ghosh about his possible link with Sanjay Rai the arrested suspect for the rape and murder of the lady doctor. On August 19 CBI said they had placed a prayer to the Sealdah Court to conduct a polygraph test on Sanjay. The court has asked CBI to produce Sanjay before the court in order to ascertain whether he had given his consent for the test. CBI team among other places had visited a place in Chetla where Sanjay had gone before going to R. G. Kar on the night of the rape and murder of the lady doctor. The team also visited Sanjay's house and carried out a six hours long search. Another team visited the R. G. Kar hospital accompanied by two doctors.

Measures For Development In Hospital Infrastructure

The State Health Department on August 19 had asked the medical colleges to take fast measures to ensure safety and stringent vigil on the women doctors and health workers. In a meeting between the State Health Department and 24 medical colleges where Rs. 5 lakh had been allocated to each medical college to set up separate wash rooms and toilets, proper female duty rooms, increase the number of female guards during the night shifts and increase the number of lights to bring in more illumination. According to a health department official “Works to implement all these measures had begun. The PWD is doing their work for which Rs.5 lakh has been given to each medical college. We told the medical colleges today that if they require more funds, we will provide that."

Highlights of the first Supreme Court proceedings

1. CBI to submit status report to Apex Court by August 22 on progress of the R. G. Kar probe.
2. Bengal government to file status report by August 22 on the progress of the probe into the R. G. Kar hospital vandalism on the night of August 14.
3. Both of the above two reports to be examined at the August 22 hearing.
4. A 14 members National Task Force (NTF) set up to evolve protocols to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities.
5. NTF must submit interim report in 3 weeks and final report in 2 months.
6. NTF to ensure at all hospitals :
   I) the installations CCTV cameras at all enter and exit points.
   ii) setting up an internal complaints committee to deal with the allegations of sexual harassment of women doctors, students, nurses and health workers.
7. Bengal government hold accountable for severe delay in registering the first FIR at 11:45 p.m. on August 9 since the body was found at 9 a.m. on the same day.
8. Supreme Court asks how the R. G. Kar Principal Sandip Ghosh and the hospital authority could pass off the gang rape and murder as suicide before the bereaved family of the deceased.
9. Supreme Court asks Bengal police the reason for standing as mute spectator while 7000 vandals were ransacking R. G. Kar hospital.
10. Bengal government questioned why Sandip Ghosh was reappointed as the principal of another medical college when his role as the principal of R. G. Kar Medical College was under scrutiny.
11. Bengal government asked not to unleash its power on the peaceful protesters.
12. The incidents at the R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital has shocked the nation's conscience.

SC Puts Bengal Government Under Scanner

The Supreme Court grilled the Bengal government on its disturbing actions in response to the horrible gang rape and murder of the second year lady intern at R. G. Kar hospital while on duty.

On Sandip Ghosh's reappointment as the Principal of the Calcutta National Medical College while his role as the principal of R. G. Kar Medical College was under scrutiny, the Supreme Court asked, " When the conduct of the principal is under scrutiny, how was the same principal appointed as the principal of another college immediately."

The court also asked the Bengal government not to take any bullying measures against the peaceful protests. ".... We also direct that let not the power of state of West Bengal government be unleashed on the protesters whether they are doctors, members of civil society or lawyers...."

The state government was asked about its delay in filing the first FIR. " It appears the crime was detected in morning, yet the principal and the hospital staff tried to pass it off as suicide and the parents were not even allowed to see the body for several hours." Justice Chandrachud said during the two hours special hearing. " The incident occurred in the morning. The autopsy revealed the victim was murdered, yet the FIR was lodged at 11:45 p.m. that too three hours after the body was cremated at 8:30 p.m.

Kapil Sibbal, the counsel for the West Bengal government replied the parents had not filed any FIR. " The parents were not in the hospital when the incident took place. The onus was on the hospital to lodge the FIR," the Chief Justice of India said.

" How did the mob gather and vandalise the hospital and equipment ? Kolkata Police do not know it ? What were the police personnel doing ? We are very, very concerned, " the Chief Justice told. In a written order the bench said, " We are unable to comprehend how the state was not prepared to deal with the vandalisation of the premises of the hospital.

The bench also expressed concern over the revelations of the name and address of the victim in media, where there are penal provisions for such revelations prohibited by multiple apex court judgment. ".... female medical professionals also face different forms of sexual violence at the workplace by colleagues, seniors and persons in authority. Sexual violence has had its origins even within the institution,...."

The Supreme Court deploys CISF at R. G. Kar

On 20 August, the Supreme Court had announced the deployment of Central Industrial Security Force ( CISF) at the R. G. Kar hospital to look after the security measures of the entire establishment, in response to the failure of Kolkata Police to protect the hospital from the night of vandalism on August 14. " It is essential to create safe conditions for interns, residents, senior residents and to return to their duties so as to enable them to not only pursue their education but to administer medical care to their patients," according to the Chief Justice.

The Kolkata Police files graft case against the ex - principal of R. G. Kar

At last, the city police has started a case against Sandip Ghosh at the Tala Police station with the operating assistance of recently formed Special Investigation Team ( SIT) to probe into the matters of several high handedness of Sandip Ghosh in the administration of the R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

This move had sparked sharp retorts as for which undisclosed reason the state government was hesitating for so long to start the investigation since Sandip Ghosh had long been accused of a series of allegations.

The Kolkata police case begins at the time when Sandip Ghosh is being slowly eclipsed under the devouring shadow of the CBI in the fifth day running interrogation. Ultimately to the conscientious populace of Kolkata and West Bengal it had become an open secret that this SIT investigation was like eyewash just to pacify the swelling disgust and hatred among the public following the complete inaction of state government against Sandip Ghosh.

Ghosh had been summoned to the Kolkata Police headquarter in relation with a case to disclose the name of the victim in public which might have caused a jail term for two years. Besides, there were different types of allegations such as :-

1. Manipulating the government tenders by allowing ineligible vendors to participate in the bidding process and illegally awarding contracts to run food joints and canteens inside the hospital premise.
2. Manipulation of canteen contracts inside the boys' and girls' hostels is also where Ghosh had left his mark of crime.
3. Asking exorbitant sum of money from the students and intern against passing them in the examinations. If the students failed to pay the money Sandip Ghosh would fail them in the exams.
4. Passing illegal tenders to the particular three vendors for supplying the hospital staffs.
5. Taking exorbitant amount of money from the franchises of food joints inside the hospital campus and canteens inside the hospital premise.
6. Providing his gang of senior doctors, residents and hospital staffs with alcohol.
7. Running sex rackets within the hospital premise.
8. Taking hefty sum of money for transferring and posting of doctors.
9. Illegally removing the unclaimed bodies from the hospital morgue.
10. Running a secret racket for selling organs from the patients’ bodies.
11. Helping the irregular students to pass the examination against huge amount of money he would receive from them.

But at the end what was left as a point of fear was that not a single person from CAG or the central government finance department was appointed in this SIT. The burning question remained how can four IPS officers could possibly run an investigation in a financial scam !

Sandip Ghosh, the Medical Mafia of R. G. Kar hospital

Akhtar Ali, the former Deputy Superintendent (non - medical) at R. G. Kar had placed a slew of allegations against Sandip Ghosh labelling him " nothing short of a mafia". He alleged that Ghosh would take commissions from contractors and large sums of money from the students against assuring them that they would not fail in the examination and would receive their internship completion certificate.

"Ghosh used to preside over a biomedical waste scam . The waste generated at the hospital everyday weighing 500 -600 kg would be sold to unauthorised person . The waste in included rubber gloves, saline bottles, syringes, needles and other items. These can only be handed out to authorised centers for proper disposal and recycling, " Ali said.

On August 20 Ali said that he had sent written complaints to the state Vigilance Commission, anti corruption bureau and the head quarter of the state health department, Swasthya Bhavan on July 13,2023. "I had lodged several complaints and tried to alert the government about these malpractices. But nothing happened and I was transferred from R. G. Kar . My wife and family members and I started receiving threat calls. The callers said they would hurt us if I did not keep quiet. Later, I also sent a complaint to the Chief Minister's grievance cell."

Ali said Sandip Ghosh would take bribe from the contractors who would execute various projects or provide medical equipments and peripherals to the hospital. He also allegedly took huge sums of money for transfer of doctors and other employees and encourage a section of students to drink in guest rooms at the hostels. " He would buy alcohol for a section of students and encourage them to drink in the guest rooms. He would use same students to run his writ in the hospital. He would also collect Rs. 10 lakh from the students after promising to ensure that they would not fail in exams and would get their internship completion certificate. " Ali said.

According to Akhtar Ali, Ghosh had a posse of atleast 20 guards and four bouncers who would follow him inside the campus. Ali was called Swasthya Bhavan on 20 August, where he had informed the officials of all his findings and apprehensions. A health official assured him that a probe would be started very soon. Sandip Ghosh used to address himself as the chief minister of R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Protesting doctors happy about CISF but afraid of the true culprits roaming the campus free

The Supreme Court had requested the junior doctors to withdraw their cease work and resume their medical services. But the doctors remained firm on their objective. " If more than one person was involved, the culprits may be wandering freely on hospital campus. What assurance do we have that they would not take revenge on those who have been protesting or that they would not commit such crime again ? We want to go back to our work. But we are concerned about our safety. “

About the deployment of the CISF they doctors said, " We welcome the Supreme Court's observations to deploy the CISF. But for how long will the CISF guard the medical college ? .... What will happen at other medical colleges ? Will the CISF guard all medical colleges ?

Apart from the scientific analysis of Sanjay Rai's call details, the CBI had also collected the call history of mobile tower closest to the scene of crime along with and scanned the mobile numbers which were active in the area around the time the crime with the lady doctor was being committed.

CBI had also questioned the majority of witnesses whose presence had been detected in and around the crime scene around the time , the lady doctor was being raped and murdered.

The report at the Apex court also likely to reveal Sandip Ghosh's actual role in the gang rape and murder of the lady doctor. On 21 August the CBI had interrogated the driver of Sandip Ghosh and conducted an extensive search of the car Sandip Ghosh used when he was the principal at R. G. Kar hospital. The agency also interrogated Bulbul Mukhopadhyay, the new Medical Superintendent and the Vice Principal of R. G. Kar.

Sanjay Rai, a sexual pervert with animal instinct

According to the CBI's psychoanalytic report of Sanjay Rai, the prime accused, he turned out to be a classic case of " sexual pervert" with "animal instincts". The team of experts who interrogated Sanjay found him without any trace of emotions while narrating the incidents that took place in the crime scene . The experts who joined the CBI investigation on 18 August scanned Sanjay's statement to the central agency to try and link those to the post mortem and forensic findings. Before CBI took over the case, the Kolkata Police declared the traces of blood and skin found under the nails of the lady doctor matched with the injuries on Sanjay's hand.

According to the CBI, the CCTV footage collected from the R. G. Kar hospital showed Sanjay near chest department around 11 a.m. on 8 August. The lady doctor was in the department with at least four other junior doctors. Sanjay was staring at them for a while before leaving. During interrogation Rai confessed he entered the ward earlier that evening.

According to the CBI, the victim lady doctor had left the ward to dine with other junior doctors and returned to the seminar hall little after 1 am on August 9. A junior doctor entered the hall around 2:30 am and had a small talk with the lady doctor. Then the lady doctor went to sleep.

Sanjay was seen in the CCTV footage re - entering the hospital around 4 am. Investigators believed he then reached the third floor seminar hall where the victim was asleep.

22 August, 2024

SUPREME COURT STATES 14 HOURS DELAY IN FILING FIR

Why was crime scene secured only in the evening !!!

The bench, included Manoj Misra expressed surprise that while the body was found in the morning of August 9, the police had waited till 11:30 pm to cordon off the crime scene, by when all other formalities like the GD entry, inquest and post mortem had been over. The FIR was lodged at 11:45 pm. " One aspect is extremely disturbing. The cordoning of the crime scene was done at 11:30 pm.... ", the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibbal who was appearing for the Bengal government. " The judicial magistrate said an autopsy was conducted in the evening of August 9 at 4:20 pm, the GD entry of unnatural death was recorded at 11:30 at night ..... This is very surprising, post mortem precedes registration of the unnatural death..... and FIR lodged at 11:45 pm" the bench remarked.

The bench repeatedly asked Sibbal why the FIR had been lodged only at 11:45 pm and the unnatural death case had been registered only after the post mortem had been conducted.

Taking the exceptional delay in filing a rape and murder FIR the Supreme Court asked the West Bengal government, " Who was the Principal in touch to delay registering a complaint with police ? Why did police take 12 hours to convert the report of unnatural death into an FIR ? Why was the crime scene secured only in the evening ?"

Chief Justice Astonishment At Kolkata Police Role

In view of their perusal of the CBI status report the bench said a great effort had been made to pass off this horrendous crime against the bright young lady doctor as a mere suicide case and similar great pressure was put on the then principal Sandip Ghosh to delay in making a formal complaint to the police. " The entire process followed by Kolkata Police is not prescribed in the criminal procedure code. In my entire 30 year career as a lawyer and judge , I have never come across a procedure followed by police for registering an FIR in a rape and murder case." CJI Pardiwala had said.

State advocate Kapil Sibbal kept on defending the state government by saying the victim's parents kept on deferring about filing a formal complaint, to which the SC retorted " That does not delay in lodging an FIR ." Sibbal said securing the crime scene as well as steps taken by the police were in accordance with the rules and were videographed thus ruling out any discrepancy. Then he questioned the developments of CBI. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta countered Sibbal saying the FIR was not lodged even after the body of the victim was cremated. "First the parents were informed their daughter was not well, then they were told she had died by suicide and then about her murder. The videography of the events done only on the insistence of the victim's colleagues."

The Supreme Court asked the Bengal government to keep a responsible official present at the court to answer it's queries saying the necessary answers were not forthcoming. A verbal confrontation followed between Mehta and Sibbal.

According to one Assistant Sub Inspector of Kolkata Police, he saw a saline pouch lying beside the body of the lady doctor’s body in the morning of August 9. But after a while when he came back, that pouch was not there. Surely the pouch had the finger prints of one or more persons on it. That was why it was removed from the crime scene.

POLYGRAPH TEST ON SANDIP GHOSH AND THE VICTIM'S FOUR COLLEAGUES, THE VICTIM HAD DINNER WITH ON THE NIGHT OF HER MURDER

Although the polygraph lie detector test results were inadmissible in court, the CBI relied heavily on this procedure since it provided them with admissible evidence. Sandip Ghosh and the four doctors had given their consent for conducting the test on them. The four junior doctors continued saying that at one point on the night of 8 August they had left the seminar room and gone to see patients in the emergency ward. The sixth person on whom CBI wanted to conduct this test was the civic volunteer Sourav Bhattacharjee who had spent a considerable amount of time with Sanjay Rai, the prime accused on the night of 8 August. Although Sourav said after spending some time together he had parted way with Sanjay went on another direction. CBI was only waiting for Supreme Court's nod in the matter. There had been tremendous discrepancies in Ghosh's statement given to the CBI in the past week.

A BLIND SPOT ON CBI RADAR

In the gang rape and murder case the CBI transpired a blind spot - what transpired in the 22 minutes between two calls to the victim's family. The first call at 10:53 am was to inform that she was "unwell". The second call at 11:15 am was to convey the news that she died by suicide. The four doctors, happened to be the victim's four colleagues would piece together the final hours of the victim's last day of life that she had spent with them.

The lady doctor's parents alleged that desperate destruction of the significant evidences had prevented the arrest of the true culprits. "We do not know the password or the pattern to unlock my daughter's mobile phone. If the investigation agency manages to unlock it, significant clues can be obtained ." Her mother said. They expressed frustration with the progress of the investigation. " Nearly 9 to 10 days have passed since CBI took over the case. No one from the department or the college co - operated with us. The entire department is responsible for my daughter's murder," the father said.

Days later the parent of the lady doctor had handed over her laptop and mobile phone to the CBI. Let’s hope that CBI comes out with some positive outcome from those devices.

PROTESTING DOCTORS UNDER THREAT

To a query from the SC bench senior advocate Geeta Luthra said junior doctors were still being terrorised by the hospital authority for protesting. CJI D. Y. Chandrachud had declared this " a serious thing". The 70 junior residents and interns were willing to give the names of those who were terrorising them, in a sealed cover to the registrar - general of the court. "Those who have spoken up are feeling targeted already . They are still terrorised they are still in fear.... There are about 70 junior residents and interns . They are feeling terrorised. They are threatened. They are actually being targeted in the hospital. " Luthra said.

An alarmed CJI asked, "But terrorised by whom, because this is a serious thing."

"By members of the administration, by people who are in the hospital."Luthra said. Earlier an advocate who appeared for the Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD) , an umbrella body of doctors' associations told the bench, the doctors were being terrorised " by officials, by goons. "

Karuna Nundy, the counsel for JPD said, I am for 20000 doctors from Kolkata. Many of them work in R. G. Kar. There is a concern. Already a backlash. Action has been taken against the doctors who are protesting." The Joint Convenor of the JPD, Punyabrata Goon said, the Bengal Health Department issued an order transferring senior doctors (faculty members) who stood by the protesters. "The order was taken back in the face of mounting pressure but it was an attempt to target doctors who are speaking up for the protests." Junior doctors and students have said they have been threatened up by the persons known to be very close to Sandip Ghosh. " Ghosh had been removed. But his stooges are still around. One of them threatened me by saying I will not get my MBBS degree for taking part in the protest," said an intern.

Agitating Doctors Meet CBI Over Discontent In The Probe

A team of five junior doctors met the CBI officials at the CGO Complex at 5:15 in the evening over their dissatisfaction in the progress of the investigation and placed their queries in front of them. But the CBI officers remained numb in response citing the investigation was subjudice. " The CBI told us the investigation was being monitored by the Supreme Court and they could not divulge the details of an ongoing probe," said Arnab Mukherjee, one of the doctors. " We told the officers that whether the cease work would be lifted or not depends on their probe and what they find out."

"We want the real perpetrators to be arrested. We will not stop our demonstration till everyone involved in the rape and murder is arrested," said Dr. Mukherjee.

Solicitor General Cites Holes In The Investigation

The Solicitor General representing CBI in the Supreme Court pointed at several questions regarding the time and sequence of the crime against the lady doctor.The Kolkata Police and state counsel Kapil Sibbal responded the questions.

Delay In Registering The Unnatural Death Case:

One of the three judges in the SC bench asked whether the autopsy was done without registering an unnatural death case.

"Just tell us at what time the post mortem was performed ?" the judge asked.

Sibal said , " between 06:10 pm and 7:10 pm."

The judge said, " When a post mortem is done, is it a case of UD ? If not, why would a post mortem be needed ? Then why was a UD case registered at 23:30 hours ?"

Sibal said, the UD case no 961/24 was registered at 1:45 pm on August 9. He explained that an officer who was compiling the day's events for the police wrote it at 11:30 pm. It was recorded after the police officer returned at Tala Police station after completing the day's work.

The judge reacted by saying, " You may be right Mr. Sibbal but this is something that even the Court of Criminal Procedure does not prescribe. The entire procedure that has been followed by the police is something that I have not come across in 30 years of my (career).

The police said on Friday that what Sibbal said did not mean that the UD case was registered at 11:30 pm.

One of the judges asked Sibbal if he had a document to show that the UD case was registered earlier.

Sibbal said his team has mentioned that the UD case reference was mentioned in the requisition document of the judicial magistrate for the judicial inquest. He also said the UD case reference was mentioned in the post mortem report too, and that a judicial inquest of the body or post mortem would not have been possible without registering a UD case.

Securing Crime Scene:

The Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud said, it was disturbing to know that Tala Police station came to know about the death at 10:10 am and a General Diary (GDE ) was made at the time but procedure like securing the crime scene was done after 11 pm.

"One aspect is disturbing. The GDE was made at 10:10 am. which means the police had come to know of it at 10:10am. But despite that all the procedures like securing the crime scene were at 11 in the night ? What were they doing upto then ? The CJI asked.

Sibbal requested the court to refer to the timeline. "Everything has been videographed," Sibbal said, responding to the question on what the police was doing all day .

Kolkata Police have shared a timeline according to which the place of occurrence was secured at 10:30 am once the team of officers from Tala Police station reached the hospital.

"Securing a crime scene includes cordoning the periphery of the area where the body is found. Usually, this is done with a safety tape. Then officers are posted on the periphery to ensure that no one other than the authorised persons is allowed to enter the area that has been cordoned off," said an officer at Lal Bazaar.

Another officer who was involved in the probe till it was handed to the CBI , said the place where the body was found was cordoned off and a second layer of cordon was set up outside a seminar hall.

"No one other than the woman's family members and the officers involved in the probe were allowed to enter the seminar hall," he said.

CRIME SCENE ALTERED

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said on the court on 22 August, that the crime scene had been altered, which posted a challenge to the central agency as it took over the probe five days after that happened.

" Our problem was, we entered on the fifth day . Before that whatever report was collected by the local police. It was a challenge by itself. The crime scene was altered," Mehta said.

Sibbal denied the allegations and said everything was videographed and that there was a seizure list.

A seizure list mentioned all the articles found in the scene of crime and seized. It also contains detailed descriptions of each item.

CBI Questions Women Sleuths, Searches Through Objects

The central agency asked four female officers of the detective department on 24 August for several hours. Some inconsistencies had been found in their versions.

Meanwhile, Sandip Ghosh's office car and Sanjay Rai's motorcycle had been ceased for investigation. The CBI officers had also checked the office chair on which Sandip used to sit in his office chamber at the hospital.

CBI Raids Sandip's House And Other Places

On 25 August CBI raided Sandip Ghosh's residence and other places regarding the allegations against Ghosh's several financial irregularities as the principal of R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

At 6:45 am in the morning the CBI team had reached in front of Ghosh's Beleghata house. They kept ringing the door bell and calling Ghosh over phone. But nobody answered. Thus, after 80 minutes at 8:05 am Ghosh opened the door and let the officers in. It was suspected that Ghosh somehow got to know about the CBI'S arrival at his residence. So he took that 80 minutes to remove valuable evidences. After carrying out a 12 hours long search the officers left Ghosh's residence. Sandip's personal phone was confiscated. The CBI officers would search through the call list to indentify people, Ghosh had contacted during that 80 minutes time.

Few other places had also been raided and people had also been questioned in connection with their associations and deep involvements in Sandip Ghosh's financial scams. Few owners of food kiosks at R. G. Kar hospital and vendors of supply at that hospital had come into surface who had made their fortunes by securing their places in Sandip Ghosh's good book. A certain Dr Debashis Some had been surfaced in this connection who became a close confidante of Sandip Ghosh in taking care of Ghosh's entire money extortion racket. Debashis Som happened to be a demonstrator in the related forensic medicine department. But instead of teaching the students he used to delve into these illegal activities.

Junior Doctors Demand Police Commissioner To Be Investigated

The agitating doctors demand proper investigation to be carried out against police commissioner Vineet Goyal in connection with his purported involvement in severe removal and obliteration of valuable evidences from the crime scene.

"According to the observations of the Supreme Court, Kolkata Police have failed. The police commissioner must resign taking responsibility for the failure. If necessary, he must be brought under investigation and tried," said Debashish Halder, a post graduate trainee. The doctors had also demanded the suspension of Sandip Ghosh.

The Viral Video and The Prompt Police Cover Up

A viral video of the R. G. Kar hospital seminar room where the body of the lady doctor was found was being shown in different television channels on 26 August that showed people had almost jam packed the entire seminar room in the daytime of 9 August, hours after the victim's body was found lying at a corner of that room, making it the crime scene. The crime scene according to the rules of the investigation should remain cordoned off. Also in that crowd a handful of high ranking officials and few others, happened to be extremely close associates of Sandip Ghosh were present. These people were outsiders. As per the rule, in the crime scene or the place of occurrence any kind of intrusion from even the insiders of the premise was not permissible, lest the outsiders. Within a short while of the telecast of the video began, vehement criticisms from all quarters of the society started pouring in as how the Kolkata Police along with the hospital administration and the state government could have flouted all the rules of the crime scene investigation. People had straight way pointed out that the on air video was the clear evidence of how desperately in broad daylight all the evidences of that gruesome rape and murder was washed away by the state government, the R. G. Kar hospital authority and Kolkata Police.

Sensing a trouble the Kolkata Police higher authority had called a press conference at Lal Bazar. Meeting the press the deputy commissioner, central Indira Mukherjee had presented a peculiar hard - to - believe explanation saying, out of the 51 feet long seminar room the 40 feet area within which the victim's body was lying was cordoned off from the very beginning and in the rest of the 11 feet area the crowd was gathered.

The parents of the lady doctor had strongly protested against this explanation of Kolkata Police saying Indira Mukherjee's explanation was "100 percent lie". When they entered the seminar room on 9 August at approximately 3:30 pm along with the police commissioner Goyal, the place was not cordoned off at all and open to the people.

Special mentions had been made from various sources that in the crowd persons like Sumit Roy Tapadar, unit incharge, chest medicine department and assistant professor, Daipayon Biswas, assistant superintendent, non medical, Arunava Dutta Chowdhury, HOD, Chest Medicine , Susanta Kumar Roy, vice president, Bengal medical council, Dr. Avik Dey, member, Bengal Medical Council, Debashish Som, demonstrator, forensic medicine department, Birupakkho Biswas, Santanu Dey, law consultant of Sandip Ghosh, Prasun Chatterjee, PA to then principal Sandip Ghosh and now data entry operator at National Medical College were seen standing side by side and having discussion. Obviously, their discussion were going on regarding how to manage that entire massacre. These people were mostly outsiders and were in no way connected to the R. G. Kar hospital. They all had gathered there in front of Kolkata Police personnel Sanjib Mukhopadhyay, OC, R. G. Kar Hospital Outpost, after getting calls from their circle and to save the kingpin of their racket, Sandip Ghosh.

Why the police personnel present at seminar room allowed all these people to enter into the crime scene ? Why the police didn't stop them ? It had become clear like daylight that all these above mentioned people should have held responsible for the entire cover up of that rape and murder of the lady doctor. When questioned by the investigating journalists each one of these people lied shamelessly about their associations in this crime. In the civil society of Bengal there was no word left to condemn these shameless people.

Strangely enough the parent of the lady doctor was waiting in the chest medicine department during that entire time frame. But in spite of their repeated requests to be by their daughter's side, they were not allowed to enter the seminar room !

CBI Asks For Polygraph Test On Another Police Officer

The CBI has sought permission from the Sealdah Court to conduct a polygraph test on an additional sub inspector Anup Dutta whose name had surfaced during the interrogation of Sanjay Rai. Sanjay happened to be a close associate of Anup Dutta and enjoyed several favours coming from him. Sanjay 's confiscated motor cycle which happened to be Anup’s service motorcycle was illegally gifted to him by Anup himself. On the fateful night of 9 August, just after coming out of R.G. Kar at the early hour of the day Sanjay had made the first contact with Anup Dutta. By that time Sanjay had seen the lady doctor’s body in the seminar room. The conversation they had over phone was recorded by CBI at the time of Sanjay’s interrogation.

IMA Suspends Sandip Ghosh

On 29 August in an official statement the Indian Medical Association has announced, it has suspended the membership of former R. G. Kar principal, Sandip Ghosh. The letter was signed by Anilkumar J. Nayak, the honourary secretary general, IMA. ".... The undersigned along with the national president of IM\A, R. V. Asokan had also visited the parents of the victim in their home. They had put up their grievances against you in dealing with the situation as well as lack of empathy and sensitivity in handling the issue in appropriate manner befitting the responsibility held by you in your dealings with them," the letter reads.

"The disciplinary committee of IMA headquarters has unanimously decided to suspend you forthwith from the membership of Indian Medical Association."

The IMA, Bengal Branch and some other doctors' associations had sought actions against Ghosh " citing the nature of disrepute " brought by him to the medical profession.

School Students And Teachers On Road, Demand Justice For The Lady Doctor

School students and teachers from all corners of West Bengal have come out conducting protest rallies, marches and sit- ins in demand for the justice of the lady doctor's rape and murder. Adolescent boys and girls shout out "Bhai bonera dichhe daak / Amar didi bichar pak," (brothers and sisters are calling out / for the justice of our elder sister).

It has caused much anger for the state government that has passed a rule strictly prohibiting all kinds of student rallies and marches during the school hour. The state government has also addressed the protests of teachers and students as political activities causing much ire among Bengal's ordinary civilians.

The CBI continues with the investigation. The people of West Bengal wait with their baited breath for the justice.

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