RG Kar case: SC asks hospitals to regularise doctors' absence during protests

NEW DELHI: 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 rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Hospital, Kolkata.

The heinous crime triggered nationwide outrage and prolonged protests in West Bengal. The hospital staff and doctors took part in nationwide protests after the body of the post-graduate trainee doctor was found in the RG Kar hospital's seminar room on August 9, last year.

During its probe, Kolkata police arrested civic volunteer Sanjay Roy the next day in the case.

On Wednesday, a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar 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 whereas a few others, including AIIMS Delhi, decided to treat the period as leave of absence.

"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 is issued in peculiar facts and circumstances of the cases and is not laying down any precedent,” the CJI said.

The lawyer appearing for the body said the decision to treat the protest period as leave could create trouble for some of the medical PG students.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said as the case was non-adversarial, the hospitals would abide by the top court's directions.

Mehta said AIIMS, Delhi, decided to treat the period as leave of absence availed by the doctors.

“By an earlier order, it was stated that no coercive step would be taken against the protesting doctors for protests till the date of the order. Pursuant to this some of the AIIMS such as Kalyani and Gorakhpur and the PGI Chandigarh have regularised the absence. However some other institutes have treated the said period as if doctors were on leave," the bench said.

On August 22, last year, the bench made an impassioned appeal to the protesting doctors across the country, asking them to resume work.

Observing "justice and medicine" couldn't be stopped, it directed no coercive action would be taken against doctors once they resumed work.

The bench was hearing the suo-motu case over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the Kolkata hospital.

On Wednesday, the CJI advised senior advocate Karuna Nundy, appearing for an applicant, to withdraw her plea in the rape and murder case, saying it was filed prior to the Kolkata court's conviction judgment in the case.

“Please be careful of the fact that there is a conviction in the case… What is there in your application has a lot of things which are debatable. Everything you say in the court through an affidavit will have consequences,” the CJI said.

Mehta, representing the CBI, said unintentionally, the plea could help the convict.

The details of the application, relating to the case, were not known.

"The counsel says the application was filed before the (trial court) judgment was pronounced. The application is dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty as prayed for," the CJI said.

On January 20, Roy was sentenced to "life term imprisonment till death" in the case.

On December 10 last year, the top court took note of the CBI’s latest status report and expressed confidence that the trial would conclude within a month.

The bench had 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."

While taking a suo motu notice of the case, the bench constituted the NTF on August 20 to formulate a protocol to ensure 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 health care professionals was not required.

The panel said the state laws had adequate provisions to address minor offences besides serious ones under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

In a slew of recommendations, the NTF said 24 states had enacted laws to address violence against health care professionals while defining the terms "health care institutions" and "medical professionals".

The bench then said the case would be next heard in the week commencing March 17, 2025, but said the parties could seek an early hearing if the rape and murder case trial was delayed or an urgency.

Initially investigated by the Kolkata police, the case was transferred to the CBI on August 13 after the Calcutta High Court expressed dissatisfaction over the former's investigation.

The top court subsequently assumed oversight of the matter on August 19, 2024.