RG Kar case: No civic volunteers in schools, hospitals till further orders, SC tells Bengal government

Supreme Court on Tuesday, during a hearing on the suo motu case related to the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, directed the West Bengal government to inform about steps so that civic volunteers are not posted in hospitals, police stations and schools after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Sanjay Roy as prime accused in the case.The CBI in its fifth status report indicated that the agency is probing the role of "others" in the case.
The court also asked the West Bengal government to give details of recruitment process of civic volunteers, one of which is prime accused in the case. "It is a nice process of conferring political patronage on unverified persons," the Supreme Court said seeking affidavit in 3 weeks. The bench asked the state government, which has recruited over 1,500 civic volunteers under its 'Ratire Sathi' scheme, not to post these persons in hospitals, police stations and schools till further orders.
Taking conisance of the chargesheet filed on October 7 against accused Sanjay Roy and a Sealdah court, the court directed the CBI to file further status report on probe in the case within three weeks.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the CBI, had submitted the latest status report to the bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The court also stated that the National Task Force meetings should be held periodically and directed it to formulate recommendations on safety of Kolkata doctors within three weeks.
On September 30, the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction regarding the slow progress made by the West Bengal government in installing CCTVs and constructing toilets and separate resting rooms in government medical colleges. The court set a deadline of October 15 for the state to complete the ongoing work.
On September 17, the top court stated its disturbance over the findings presented in the CBI's status report on the case, while refusing to disclose the details to avoid compromising the ongoing investigation.
Previously, on September 9, the Supreme Court raised concerns about the missing "challan" - a crucial document required for forwarding the junior doctor's body for postmortem - from the records submitted to the court. The court requested a report from the West Bengal government on this matter.
The apex court, on August 22, reprimanded the Kolkata police for the delay in registering the unnatural death case of the woman doctor, describing it as "extremely disturbing". The court also questioned the sequence of events and the timing of the procedural formalities.
To ensure the safety and security of doctors and other healthcare professionals, the top court established a 10-member National Task Force to develop a protocol.
The Supreme Court criticized the state government for the alleged delay in filing the FIR and allowing thousands of people to vandalize the state-run facility, calling the incident "horrific".
The incident, which resulted in the doctor's death with injury marks on her body, triggered nationwide protests.
The day after the crime, a civic volunteer was arrested by the Kolkata police in connection with the case.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court transferred the investigation from the Kolkata police to the CBI, which commenced its probe on August 14.