RG Kar rape-murder: Supreme Court asks hospitals to regularise doctors’ absence during protests

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed hospitals, including AIIMS New Delhi, to regularise the unauthorised absence of doctors who were part of protests against the August 9, 2024 rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata that triggered nationwide outrage and prolonged protests in West Bengal.

“We deem it appropriate to clarify that if protesting workers had joined work post the Supreme Court order then their absence shall be regularised and not be treated as absence from duty. This (order) is issued in peculiar facts and circumstances of the cases and is not laying down any precedent,” a bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna said.

During its probe, the Kolkata police arrested civic volunteer Sanjay Roy the very next day in the case. A Kolkata court on January 20 awarded Roy “life term imprisonment till death” after holding him guilty.

The bench took note of the submissions of a doctors’ body that some hospitals had regularised the absence of the doctors following its August 22, 2024 order but a few others, including AIIMS Delhi, decided to treat the period as leave of absence.

The order came after the advocate representing the doctors’ body pointed out that the decision to treat the protest period as leave may create trouble for some of the medical PG students.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said on behalf of the Centre that since the case was non-adversarial, the hospitals would abide by the court’s directions.

On August 22, 2024, the top court – which took suo-motu cognisance of the case — had appealed to the protesting doctors to resume work. Noting that “justice and medicine” couldn’t be stopped, it had directed no coercive action would be taken against doctors once they resumed work.

The bench also turned down the victim’s parents’ plea for further probe into the case, saying the case has already resulted in a conviction. The victim’s parents had alleged that there were other perpetrators of crime.