The Supreme Court on Thursday successfully appealed to the professional sense of doctors protesting the brutal rape and murder of their junior colleague at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, asking them to return to work and tend the poor and ailing multitude who have to wait years for a medical consultation in public hospitals across India.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud recounted scenes of patients waiting for hours for a few minutes of medical consultation in public hospitals while their bystanders spent nights on the bare floor.

“I know because I too had slept on the floor in a government hospital where a relative of mine had been admitted… Our hearts go out to all those people who go to public hospitals… Doctors must come back to duty. There are people who need them. How will public health infrastructure run without them? In places like AIIMS Delhi, people take appointments two years in advance. They suffer when doctors are not on duty when they come to the hospital for medical care,” Chief Justice Chandrachud told the assembled lawyers in his courtroom during the day-long hearing.

The three-judge Bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the family of the trainee postgraduate doctor who lost her life in the brutal attack would never regain normalcy: “The nation was in shock. But the law would take its course and caregivers cannot turn their backs on thousands of their waiting patients.”

“Judges cannot give justice standing outside the court complex. Likewise, doctors cannot treat patients outside their hospitals… Justice and medicine cannot go on strike. Get back to work now,” Chief Justice Chandrachud urged several doctors’ associations and bodies which had moved court.

Agreeing with the Bench, medical professionals who had approached the apex court said they were apprehensive about hospital authorities resorting to legal action against them once they join duty.

“First establish before us that everybody has come back to work. Once it is established that you are back to work, we will assure you that no adverse action will be taken against you… We will protect you,” Chief Justice Chandrachud responded.

The court directed its National Task Force (NTF) to hear out every stakeholder while framing suggestions to usher in reforms in safety measures and better infrastructural and working conditions for medical professionals. The court ordered the creation of an online portal for NTF to receive suggestions and grievances even anonymously.

“Thirty-six and 48 hour shifts for doctors are inhuman. How can residents work 36-hour shifts? There is a certain hierarchical nature at work in public hospitals, and junior doctors bear the brunt,” Chief Justice Chandrachud observed.

Basic interim safety procedures

When doctors asked for immediate safety measures until the NTF came out with its report, the top court directed the Union Health Secretary to meet with Chief Secretaries of States and Director Generals of Police and put in place basic interim safety procedures. The meetings have to be held in a week. The safety protocol has to be up and working two weeks thereafter.

The Bench said the CBI, in the meanwhile, would carry on with its probe into the crime while the West Bengal Police would continue its investigation into the mob attack and vandalism of the protest site at RG Kar premises on August 14.

The apex court ordered the Magistrate court to decide by August 23 an application seeking permission to conduct a polygraph test on the prime accused in the rape and murder case.

The hearing saw the Bench grill the State Police that took 14 hours to register a First Information Report (FIR) after getting information of the doctor’s death on August 9.

“Why did the Principal, on being informed about the death, not come to the college straightaway and direct the registration of the FIR? Why was the Principal, as soon as he resigned, appointed to another college?” Chief Justice Chandrachud asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government.

Sibal said procedure following the receipt of information of a crime was followed to the ‘T’. The West Bengal Police had followed the guidelines laid out in a gazetted notification issued by the Police department in 2018. “According to this, when information of crime is received, the first information is recorded and treated as an FIR. The fact that it was an unnatural death was recorded at 10.10 am. The record of this fact can be seen in the seizure list, inquest report and the post mortem report,” Sibal submitted.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the State was deliberately trying to “muddy the waters”. Sibal said the CBI, instead of concentrating on the case investigation, was focussing on the State of West Bengal.

‘Do not politicise’

The court urged both the Centre and West Bengal government not to “politicise” the horrific crime committed on a young doctor.

When a lawyer referred to a quantity of semen found, the Chief Justice requested her to not use social media to make arguments in court.

“Please remember, we have the post mortem report before us,” Chief Justice told the lawyer.

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