Doctor Rape-Murder Case: Calcutta HC allows Doctors to continue protest at Esplanade

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday upheld a December 20 order order allowing a demonstration during the Christmas season to demand speedy justice for the RG Kar hospital trainee doctor who was allegedly raped and murdered in August.

According to the PTI report, during the course of the hearing, the bench observed that the R G Kar incident was "unprecedented, unimaginable and horrible".

The state had moved the division bench, challenging the order of the single bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, which had permitted the Joint Forum of Doctors to hold the sit-in 50 feet away from Dorina Crossing at Esplanade in central Kolkata from December 20-26.

Such demonstrations on Christmas days would cause traffic snarls in the busy area and inconvenience revellers in the festive season, the state's counsel argued.

The division bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya allowed the forum to continue its agitation at the same spot after the defence counsel assured that the number of protesters would be within the specified limit of 100.

Also Read:Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: Doctors' body plan 10-day demonstration

The forum's counsel also submitted that the demonstrators wouldn't spill over the barricaded area earmarked for holding the sit-in as discussed with the state police and administration.

The court also asked the agitating doctors to respond to the state's proposal of suspending the sit-in for a day on December 25 and instead defer it to December 27.

Justice Ghosh, in his December 20 order, had said that since the organisers were doctors, they were expected to take into account the possible hardships to commuters in the area during the demonstration.

The court had directed that the stage for holding the demonstration should not exceed 40 feet in length and 23 feet in width and the number of participants in the sit-in should not exceed 250 at a time, news agency PTI reported.

In his submission before the division bench on Monday, state's counsel Kalyan Banerjee found little merit in holding the sit-in at Dorina Crossing against the alleged delay in the CBI probe during Christmas.

Doctors' counsel Bikash Bhattacharya countered his assertion, stating that the protests at Dorina Crossing for the past three days did not cause any traffic bottleneck or inconvenience the public.

He also submitted a video clip of the ongoing demonstration to buttress his claims and contended that people go to Park Street to celebrate Christmas, not Esplanade.

The on-duty postgraduate trainee doctor's dead body was found in the seminar room of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against the prime accused, Sanjay Roy, in the rape and murder case of the on-duty doctor.

In its charge sheet filed before a special CBI court here, the central agency said Roy, who was working as a civic volunteer with the local police, allegedly committed the crime on August 9 when the victim had gone to sleep in the hospital’s seminar room during a break.

Doctors’ bodies in the state have been holding demonstrations and protests, demanding speedy justice for the deceased medic.

Also Read:Kolkata Rape-Murder Case: Calcutta HC Grants Conditional Approval for Doctors' Protest