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Key hearing on Kolkata doctor's rape-murder in Calcutta high court today
One of the petitioner's counsel, Phiroze Edulji, alleged that a faulty investigation was being carried out by the police in the incident.
The Calcutta high court is set to hear at least three petitions seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. A division bench presided by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya will hear the matter.
One of the petitioner's counsel, Phiroze Edulji, alleged that a faulty investigation was being carried out by the police in the incident, news agency PTI reported. According to him, a “cover-up attempt” is being made.
The counsel further condemned the fact that the victim's name was made public and prayed for the court to order its expungement from all social media platforms.
Kolkata doctor's rape and murder case
The body of the trainee woman doctor was found in a semi-naked state in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College on Friday morning. The 28-year-old victim was a second-year student in the respiratory medicine department at the hospital.
The incident took place between 3am and 5am, the police said.
The autopsy report indicated that the woman was sexually assaulted before being strangled and smothered to death. According to the report, there was bleeding from both her eyes and mouth and injuries over the face, nails, belly, left leg, neck, right hand, ring finger, and lips. The victim was also bleeding from her private parts, the autopsy report said.
Also read: Kolkata rape-murder: 'Womaniser' accused married 4 times, watched 'disturbing, violent' porn
According to the probe, after severely hurting and sexually assaulting the doctor, the accused, identified as Sanjoy Roy, killed her by throttling and smothering her.
Roy, a civic volunteer who is not associated with the RG Kar Medical College but used to visit the place frequently, was arrested on Saturday, following which he was sent to a 14-day police under the charges of sections 64 (rape) and 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
After probing the accused, the police said that after committing the crime, Roy returned to his place and went to sleep before washing his clothes the next morning to destroy evidence. However, the police found marks of blood on the accused's shoe.
Mamata Banerjee's ‘handover to CBI’ promise
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that she will hand over the case to the CBI if the police fail to solve the case by Sunday, August 18.
“If the police are unable to solve this by Sunday, we will hand over the case to the CBI. However, the success rate of the central probe agency is very low,” she said.
IMA deadline, doctors' protests
Several doctors from hospitals across India called for an indefinite strike starting Monday to protest against the gruesome crime.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) wrote to union minister JP Nadda, demanding an impartial, thorough investigation of the case and steps to improve the safety of doctors, especially women, in the workplace.
“We submit to you our demand for safe zone, defined security measures and Central Law on violence as deterrent measures. We hope you would consider our demands favourably in the light of deteriorating ground situation,” the IMA wrote in its letter.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association has also demanded an investigation by the CBI and said that the status quo of the strike would continue.
