Mamata Writes to PM for a Central Act and Fast Track Courts in Rape Cases, SC Asks Doctors to Return to Duty
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 22: Amidst the horrific rape and murder of a young trainee doctor in a state-run hospital in Kolkata which has shaken the conscience of the nation and prompted indefinite strike by the resident doctors across the country, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has written a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a stringent central law and fast track courts to ensure speedy justice in rape cases.
“It is horrifying to see that almost 90 cases of rapes occur every day throughout the country,” Ms Banerjee pointed out referring to official data. “This shakes the confidence and conscience of the society and the nation. It is bounden duty for all of us to put an end to it so that the women feel safe and secure,” she said in her letter.
As the hearing in the Kolkata rape and murder case resumed in the Supreme Court on Thursday before a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, the apex court asked the agitating doctors to immediately call of their strike and return to duty while the court would ensure justice in the horrific case and security to the medical professionals.
Doctors at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday announced that they were calling off their 11-day strike in response to Supreme Court’s appeal. “We are resuming duties following the Supreme Court’s appeal and assurances and intervention in the RG Kar incident and safety for doctors. We commend the Court’s action and call for adherence to its directives. Patient care remains our top priority,” the AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association said in a post on X.
Resident doctors in several other government hospitals in different parts of the country also called off their agitation following the SC’s appeal. No decision, however, has yet been communicated by the striking doctors in Kolkata who have stopped work since August 10, the day the horrific incident of the previous night at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital came to light.
Ms Banerjee’s letter to the Prime Minister in the background of the horrific crime has assumed added significance as the subsequent handling of the case by the police and other concerned authorities including the hospital administration has raised several questions and evoked massive protests and strikes by doctors across the country.
“Respected Prime Minister, I wish to bring to your kind attention the regular and increasing occurrence of rape cases throughout the country and in many cases rapes with murder are committed according to the available data, it is horrifying to see that almost 90 cases of rapes occur daily throughout the country. Alapan Bandopadhyay, Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister, read the letter at a press conference.
“Such serious and sensitive issue needs to be addressed in a comprehensive manner through stringent central legislation prescribing exemplary punishment against the persons involved in such dastardly crimes. Setting up of fast-track special courts for speedy trials in such cases should also be considered in the proposed legislation to ensure quick justice. Trial in such cases should preferably be completed within 15 days,” the letter added.
Earlier in the day, in a tough talking the Supreme Court, which has set up a National Task Force (NTF) to recommend steps to improve working conditions for healthcare professional, termed “extremely disturbing” the Kolkata Police’s delay in registering the unnatural death of the woman doctor at the RG Kar Hospital.
The top court also asked protesting doctors to get back to work. Justice and medicine cannot be stopped, the court said while hearing a suo-motu case on the Kolkata doctor’s murder. Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud had urged the agitating doctors to return to work asserting that the ongoing protests could severely impact the public healthcare system.
The SC also directed the Centre and the states to take urgent steps to institutionalise the safety of medics across the country. “We direct the secretary of the Union Ministry of Health to engage with the chief secretaries of the states and directors general of police to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals,” the Supreme Court bench said, while ordering that the exercise be completed in a week.
The bench said peaceful protests over the Kolkata incident shall not be disturbed or disrupted by the West Bengal government. During the hearing, several lawyers representing different groups of doctors expressed concerns of action against them for joining the protests that demand justice for the victim as well as safer working conditions for healthcare professionals.
Justice and medicine, the Chief Justice said, cannot go on strike. Earlier, the bench said doctors must resume their duties because the poor people of the country cannot be left in the lurch. At the start of the proceedings, a lawyer appearing for resident doctors in AIIMS Nagpur said the medicos are being marked absent because they are on protest.
“If they are on duty, they will not be marked absent and if they are not on duty, then law will be followed. Ask them to first return to work, no one will take adverse action against any doctor. If there is difficulty after that, then come to us, but let them first report to work,” the Chief Justice of India said. He added that in some cases, people wait for as much as two years for doctors’ appointments. “Poor people cannot be left in the lurch.”
When a lawyer representing doctors from PGIMER Chandigarh said doctors are being victimised, the Chief Justice reiterated that doctors must get back to duty first. “Once they get back to duty, we will prevail upon authorities to not take adverse action, else how will public health infrastructure run, if the doctors do not work,” the Chief Justice said, adding that the court’s assurance should satisfy the doctors.
The court assured the doctors’ representatives that all their concerns would be addressed by the National Task Force set up to make recommendations for improving doctors’ work conditions and ensuring their security. “If we start asking representatives of various stakeholders to be part of committee then work of the committee gets dislocated, we know that the committee has senior women doctors and they have dedicated their life to public health infrastructure. The committee will hear everyone, interns, residents, senior residents, nurses, paramedical staff. The committee will ensure that all representatives are heard,” the bench said.
