Kolkata rape-murder case: CISF inspects RG Kar hospital after SC order

Kolkata: A team of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) arrived at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital for inspection on Wednesday on the order of the Surpeme Court, which pulled up the West Bengal government on Tuesday for the mob rampage at the state-run hospital on the intervening night of August 14-15, officials aware of the development said.

Days after the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor in the hospital’s seminar hall, a mob had barged into the premises, vandalising its emergency department, nursing station, and medicine store.

Meanwhile, two assistant police commissioners (ACPs) and an inspector have been suspended over the vandalism incident, officials said.

“ACPs Ramesh Roychowdhury and Shakiruddin Sardar and inspector Rakesh Minj have been charged with dereliction of duty. They were posted in that area on the night of the rampage. The government has also ordered complete restructuring of police deployment at the hospital till the CISF takes charge of security,” a Kolkata police official said on condition of anonymity.

A team of senior CISF officials reached the hospital on Wednesday to inspect the current security arrangements. They also held several meetings with the health department and Kolkata police.

At all big state-run hospitals, including RG Kar, security personnel are provided by private agencies hired on contract. Police personnel are posted only at the main entraces and outside the emergency departments. 

“We cannot share any detail right now regarding the deployment of CISF. We are holding discussions,” Kumar Pratap Singh, a deputy inspector general (DIG) in the Central Force, told the media outside the hospital on Wednesday.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday reacted sharply to the August 15 rampage.

“In the aftermath of the brutal incident and the demonstrations that followed, the state government was expected to ensure the deployment of the state machinery to prevent a breach of law and order. It was all the more necessary to do so since the investigation of the crime that took place in the precincts of the hospital was under way. We are unable to comprehend how the state was not prepared to deal with the incident of vandalization of the premises of the hospital,” the court said in its order, a copy of which was seen by HT.

A mob of around 7,000 people stormed into the hospital around 12.40am on August 15 and destroyed property inside the emergency building while junior doctors’ were holding an agitation against the August 9 rape and murder of a postgraduate student.

The violence took place when peaceful agitations, including a ‘reclaim the night’ march by women, were taking place across Kolkata and the districts of Bengal.

Several police personnel were injured by brickbats hurled by the miscreants. None of the agitating junior doctors sustained any injury, but the mob had damaged beds and medical equipment on the ground, first and second floors of the emergency building.

On August 9, the body of the postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital . A civic volunteer, Sanjoy Roy, was arrested the next day in connection with the crime. The Calcutta high court later transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The rampage took place hours after a CBI team from Delhi visited the hospital and began its probe.