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Kolkata rape-murder case: MHA seeks updates every 2 hours from states/UTs
In a fax message to all the police chiefs, the home ministry said that the law and order situation of all states should be monitored in view of the protests.
New Delhi: The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has asked the police departments of all the states and union territories to give it law and order situation reports every two hours in the wake of protests by doctors, nursing staff, and others against the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
In a fax message to all the police chiefs, the home ministry said that the law and order situation of all states should be monitored in view of the protests.
“Competent authority has desired to monitor the law and order situation of your state against the murder of a trainee woman doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. Henceforth, a continuous two-hourly law and order situation report in this regard may kindly be sent to the MHA control room (New Delhi) by Fax, Email, or WhatsApp from 1600 hours today,” the MHA said in the Fax message sent on Friday.
The home ministry also provided the state police forces with the Fax and WhatsApp numbers and the email ID where the two-hourly situation report can be sent.
Officials familiar with the development said it is not new for the MHA to seek law and order situation reports from the state/UT governments.
On August 9, a postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. A civic volunteer of Kolkata Police was arrested in connection with the crime the next day.
A 25-member special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently probing the matter and has questioned the main accused, Sanjay Roy, and the principal of the college, Dr. Sandip Ghosh, among others.
As reported by HT on Sunday, the federal agency is planning to conduct a lie-detector test on Roy and has already sent a team of the Central Forensics Science Laboratory (CFSL) for a psychoanalysis test on him.
Doctors and other medical staff have been protesting in different parts of the country, affecting the functioning of health facilities. They are pressing for a central law to check violence against healthcare personnel, declaring hospitals safe zones with mandatory security entitlements, among other demands.
