Kolkata doctor rape-murder case trial likely to conclude within a month: Supreme Court-OxBig News Network

The trial in the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College Hospital, Kolkata, is likely to conclude in a month, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.

After perusing CBI’s latest status report, a bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar noted the trial was progressing on a daily basis — Monday to Thursday — at Special CBI Court in Sealdah, and of the total 81 witnesses, the prosecution had already recorded the testimony of 43 witnesses.

The top court, which had on August 18 taken suo motu cognisance of the horrific incident, directed the parties to share their suggestions on preventing gender-based violence and developing safety protocols for doctors and medical staff at hospitals with the court-appointed National Task Force (NTF).

Asking NTF to file its report in 12 weeks, the bench posted the matter for further hearing on March 17, 2025. However, it clarified that the parties to the case could seek an early hearing, if the trial was delayed.

Set up to suggest measures to ensure safety of medical professionals – NTF had last month told the Supreme Court that no separate central law was required to deal with violence against them as existing state laws and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 have adequate safeguards.

“It has been observed that state laws have adequate provisions to address day-to-day minor offences and serious offences can be addressed by the BNS. A separate central law to deal with offences against healthcare professionals is, therefore, not required,” NTF submitted in its report to the top court.

Pointing out that 24 states had special laws to deal with violence against medical professionals, the NTF report had said, “Most of the state laws cover minor offences and prescribe punishment for them. The major offences/heinous offences are adequately covered under the BNS.”

After perusing the NTF report, the bench noted that existing state laws adequately addressed offences against healthcare professionals and that a separate central law was not required.

A badly injured body of a post-graduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar room of the RG Kar hospital on August 9, outraging the nation and triggering nationwide protests by doctors.

The Kolkata police initially registered a case of unnatural death and arrested Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, the next day. However, acting on a petition filed by the victim’s parents, the Calcutta High Court on August 13 transferred the probe to CBI, expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation conducted by the Kolkata police.