KOLKATA: Calcutta high court said Friday “it would be hard to believe that state police did not know” something like the post-midnight vandalism at RG Kar Medical College could happen, terming what transpired after Wednesday’s ‘Reclaim the Night’ street protests over a 31-year-old PG student’s rape-murder “an absolute failure of state machinery“. “Could this vandalism have been prevented is the question.Who did it comes later,” HC said.
When the state’s counsel contested a submission by the victim’s parents that a part of the seminar hall where the August 9 rape-murder took place had been affected by some ongoing work, HC said, “Let the authorities submit a report with photos (to prove that the crime scene is intact) before the next hearing.”
Something needed to inspire our confidence, says Calcutta high court
The report should include the true state of affairs and all matters relating to the hospital, HC said before seeking to know the reason for the “urgency” in starting the project to build washrooms for women doctors in the vicinity of the crime scene in the hospital’s seminar hall.
“What is the reason for breaking all facilities (during the vandalism)? It can never be understood… Police are also injured. Therefore, had the law and order failed? Something is required to inspire our confidence,” Chief Justice Sivagnanam said when state govt counsel Amitesh Banerjee spoke of a 7,000-strong mob breaking barricades and running riot inside the hospital.
The division bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, questioned why the administration didn’t clamp prohibitory orders within a kilometre’s radius of the hospital in north Kolkata despite knowing that the situation was tense.
“You pass orders under Sec 144 CrPC for any reason, but when so much commotion is going on, you should have cordoned off the entire area,” the bench said.
“In our view, the police should place on record the entire sequence of events leading to the incident. What is more important is that the doctors working in the hospital, who are presently protesting, have to be given adequate protection to discharge their duties. We had earlier reminded doctors of their obligation to treat patients. However, this incident would definitely impact their mindset.”
Earlier this week, the bench ordered police to transfer the probe into the rape-murder to CBI.
When the state’s counsel contested a submission by the victim’s parents that a part of the seminar hall where the August 9 rape-murder took place had been affected by some ongoing work, HC said, “Let the authorities submit a report with photos (to prove that the crime scene is intact) before the next hearing.”
Something needed to inspire our confidence, says Calcutta high court
The report should include the true state of affairs and all matters relating to the hospital, HC said before seeking to know the reason for the “urgency” in starting the project to build washrooms for women doctors in the vicinity of the crime scene in the hospital’s seminar hall.
“What is the reason for breaking all facilities (during the vandalism)? It can never be understood… Police are also injured. Therefore, had the law and order failed? Something is required to inspire our confidence,” Chief Justice Sivagnanam said when state govt counsel Amitesh Banerjee spoke of a 7,000-strong mob breaking barricades and running riot inside the hospital.
The division bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, questioned why the administration didn’t clamp prohibitory orders within a kilometre’s radius of the hospital in north Kolkata despite knowing that the situation was tense.
“You pass orders under Sec 144 CrPC for any reason, but when so much commotion is going on, you should have cordoned off the entire area,” the bench said.
“In our view, the police should place on record the entire sequence of events leading to the incident. What is more important is that the doctors working in the hospital, who are presently protesting, have to be given adequate protection to discharge their duties. We had earlier reminded doctors of their obligation to treat patients. However, this incident would definitely impact their mindset.”
Earlier this week, the bench ordered police to transfer the probe into the rape-murder to CBI.