Kolkata experienced a unique and powerful display of civic solidarity when residents turned off their lights for an hour from 9 pm on Wednesday and came down to the streets with burning candles to protest the murder of the doctor at RG Kar hospital and to express support for the deceased doctor's family.
The decision to suspend the IMA membership of Ghosh, who is the vice president of the association's Kolkata branch, was taken by its disciplinary committee.
Nearly 300 teachers of a medical college on Monday submitted their resignation to Uttar Pradesh government, even as the agitation by doctors against arrest of 24 junior doctors entered the fourth day.
The parents of the victim doctor in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case have alleged that the investigation is incomplete and several others involved in the crime are still at large. The court is set to deliver its verdict on Saturday, with Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, facing charges of committing the crime. The victim's parents expressed concerns about the presence of other individuals at the crime scene who remain unidentified. The CBI, which is investigating the case, has sought capital punishment for Roy, claiming he was the sole perpetrator.
Eighty-seven days after the body of a woman medic was found at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a Kolkata court on Monday framed charges against the prime accused, Sanjay Roy.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers on Friday conducted simultaneous search operations at the residences of Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and three of his associates in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the institute, an officer said.
Pronouncing sole accused Sanjay Roy guilty of rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at state-run RG Kar hospital, Sealdah court judge Anirban Das on Saturday said the convict had attacked the postgraduate trainee while she was asleep in the hospital's seminar room around 4 am on August 9, 2024.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an appeal in the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, who was sentenced to "life imprisonment until death" for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The CBI argued that the crime falls under the "rarest of rare" category deserving capital punishment, while the trial court had ruled otherwise. The West Bengal government has also appealed for the death penalty, but the CBI opposed the state's right to file an appeal, claiming it was the prosecuting agency and therefore had the right to appeal on the grounds of inadequacy of the sentence. The high court will hear the appeals from the CBI, the victim's family, and the convict on January 27.
The Mamata Banerjee government will table the anti-rape bill in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday.
A special court in Kolkata on Thursday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a polygraph test on former RG Kar Medical College principal Sandip Ghosh and four other doctors in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee at the hospital, officials said.
Notwithstanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's warning of strict action if work is not resumed, the junior doctors carried on with their agitation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday dismissed a fake letter being circulated on social media in connection with the ongoing probe into the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata.
The West Bengal government has sought permission from the Calcutta High Court to appeal against the Sealdah court order that sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment until death in the RG Kar hospital doctor's rape and murder case. The state government is seeking the death penalty for Roy, the sole convict in the case, and has expressed dissatisfaction with the Sealdah court's verdict, which did not consider the crime "rarest of the rare." The court also ordered Roy to pay a Rs 50,000 fine and directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
The Supreme Court on Thursday criticised Kolkata Police for their 'extremely disturbing' delay in registering the case of a woman doctor who was raped and killed at RG Kar Hospital, while also urging the agitating doctors to return to work amid the fourteenth day of disruptions in healthcare services in Bengal's state-run hospitals.
Despite the government setting a deadline of Wednesday for the junior doctors to resume duty and warning that ESMA would otherwise be invoked, the agitators continued their stir at all government teaching hospitals.
According to RDA president Hamza Malik, the availability of protective gear for doctors at the hospital had reached a critical point when they had threatened to boycott work if necessary gear was not made available immediately. The crisis was however defused on the intervention of the AMU Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor, who assured them that their concerns were being immediately addressed.
The mother of Sanjoy Roy, convicted for the rape and murder of a doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, has said she accepts the verdict and believes her son should be punished, even if it means hanging. The court will announce the sentence on Monday.
Alleging that the West Bengal government headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has failed to carry out its basic duties to protect the lives and properties of citizens, Governor C V Ananda Bose on Wednesday said that his office is already intervening in the RG Kar impasse under provisions in the Constitution.
The CBI did not find any large-scale conspiracy in the episode and would limit the charge sheet to offences of attempt to cheat or cheating, they said.
Mamata alleged that the BJP and the CPI-M were provoking doctors and giving communal colour to the issue.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud directed the protesting doctors to get back to work by 5 pm on Tuesday and assured them that there will be no adverse action if they resume duty.
Although no fresh arrests were reported in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation continued with its questioning of top officials of the RG Kar Hospital.
Doctors went on a wild rampage in the Gorakhpur Medical College on Tuesday, beating up all and sundry including patients and journalists after the family of a fatal encephalitis victim blamed the child's death on "neglect" by the attending junior doctors.
The Calcutta high court on Friday observed that mob violence at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital was an absolute failure of state machinery in West Bengal.
'If she manages to throw out people, go for surgical operations, clean up her image, she will be victorious.'
Over 33,000 doctors have applied for the available 22,000 National Health Service training posts.
In a video message, Bose also said he will also socially boycott the chief minister.
The decision followed a petition by former deputy superintendent of the medical establishment, Akhtar Ali, who sought an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged financial misconduct during the tenure of the college's former principal, Sandip Ghosh.
He further commented on the current state of public discourse, saying a "mob rule" is being created wherein politicians capitalise on certain incidents and assure people of the death penalty for culprits even though only the judiciary has the power to pass legal verdicts.
'If you are old enough to rape, you are old enough to be punished.'
The West Bengal government has suspended 12 doctors of Midnapore Medical College and Hospital for negligence following the death of a woman and four others falling ill after childbirth. The incident is alleged to have been caused by the administration of 'expired' intravenous fluid. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a government job to the family of the deceased woman.
The top court also directed the protesting resident doctors in West Bengal to resume work by 5 pm on Tuesday and said no adverse action shall be taken against them on resumption of work.
The three doctors said in their bail plea they were not even aware of the victim's caste.
Some doctors were absent from duty for 20 years, others for 15, some for 12. About 64 doctors remained absent from duty for more than five years.
The move came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed Kolkata Police commissioner Anuj Sharma to deploy a nodal police officer in every hospital.
'Sanjay Roy is not alone.' 'If he's kept alive, maybe we will know what happened.' 'Why was he in the chest medicine department that night when he never went there earlier?' 'Nobody will parade in front of a CCTV camera and then go and murder someone.' 'There are several people who are involved in this heinous crime. They have to be identified and punished.'
The doctors, who are protesting against the assault on two of their colleagues at NRS Medical College and Hospital, had on Friday sought unconditional apology from Banerjee and set six conditions for the state government in order to withdraw their stir.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which had taken cognisance of the incident, has kept the matter on top of the cause list for hearing at 10:30 am on Tuesday.
Leaders who built and manage these incredible global companies cannot be tyrants, slave-drivers, or idiots. Essentially what they are saying falls under the definition of rallying the troops, inspirational talk, like the usual coach-speak with the team before a match, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'A murder has occurred in the room, but there were no signs of struggle.' 'RG Kar says the body was discovered at 9:30 am. But the media was informed at 8:30 am.' 'We realised that crucial evidence was being destroyed.' 'She had several bite marks on her neck, but no swab was collected.' 'My daughter had 28 injuries on her body. But there was no DNA of the assailant under her nails.' 'Are you saying she did not try to defend herself?'