RG Kar Case: Supreme Court adjourns Suo Moto Hearing to January 29

"We will take it up at 2 pm on next Wednesday," the CJI said. Senior advocate Karuna Nandy, representing the Association of Junior and Senior Doctors, mentioned the plea for a hearing. On December 10 last year, the top court took note of the CBI's latest status report and expressed confidence that the trial in the case was likely to conclude within a month. 

The CBI had informed us about the day-to-day trial at a special CBI Court in Sealdah, Monday to Thursday. The bench had also directed the parties to share their recommendations and suggestions on preventing gender-based violence and developing safety protocols for doctors and medical staff at hospitals across the nation with the court-appointed National Task Force (NTF).

The bench directed the NTF to file a report and said, "All recommendations and suggestions be sent to the National Task Force and a reply be filed by the states and UTs (union territories) to the last report of the NTF." The body of the post-graduate trainee doctor was found in the hospital's seminar room on August 9, last year following which the Kolkata police arrested civic volunteer Roy the next day in connection with the crime.

While taking a suo motu notice of the case, the bench constituted the NTF on August 20 to formulate a protocol to ensure the safety and security of medical professionals in the wake of the crime. In November last year, the NTF in its report -- part of the Central government's affidavit -- said a separate central law to deal with offences against healthcare professionals was not required.