Kolkata doctor murder: SC raps Bengal govt over appointment of civic volunteers, slow pace of safety work at hospitals

Kolkata doctor murder: The Supreme Court slammed the West Bengal government on Tuesday for allegedly stalling safety work in all of the state's hospitals. The top court, while hearing a suo motu case involving the r@pe and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, questioned the state government about the recruitment process for civic police volunteers, according to Bar & Bench.

The top court bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, sought information from the West Bengal government on the recruitment of such civic volunteers, who assist cops in their daily duties, noting that the key accused in the RG Kar rape-murder case was a civic police volunteer.

The court questioned the Bengal government: “Who recruits these civic volunteers? We want to know what these criteria are. We need to ensure that such volunteers do not work in sensitive environments such as hospitals or schools."

The court stated that civic volunteers have unrestricted access to sensitive places because they are on active duty. The CJI stated that enabling unverified recruitment of civic volunteers could result in conferring power through political bias.

The Supreme Court stated, "This is a nice way to confer political patronage on selected individuals. Let the State of West Bengal first provide us with data."

The court also raised concern over the slow rate at which security measures are being put in place in medical facilities and colleges across the state and questioned the West Bengal government on this issue.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court voiced concern with the National Task Force (NTF), which the bench established to offer recommendations to improve medical worker safety. The court noted that the NTF had not made any progress and that the members' latest meeting was in the first week of September.

The court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta why no meeting was held after September 9, and ordered the NTF to execute the assigned tasks within three weeks.

"At present, it appears that neither the National Task Force nor the sub-groups have made any significant progress in accordance with the remit set in this Court's orders. The SG accepted that no meetings appear to have occurred since the first week of September 2024. We believe that the Union Government must take proactive steps to guarantee that the Task Force's duty is carried out within a reasonable time frame in the future," the court stated.