In a notable decision on Monday, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court upheld a previous ruling allowing a doctors’ organization to conduct a demonstration at Esplanade, pressing for expedited justice in the tragic case of an RG Kar hospital medic’s alleged rape and murder in August.
The division bench, composed of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya, affirmed the December 20 order by Justice Tirthankar Ghosh that had permitted the Joint Forum of Doctors to hold their sit-in 50 feet from Dorina Crossing in central Kolkata from December 20-26. This decision comes despite the state government’s concerns that the demonstration during the Christmas season would cause traffic disruptions and inconvenience to holiday revelers.
During the hearing, the state’s counsel, Kalyan Banerjee, argued against the sit-in, citing potential traffic snarls and disturbances during a busy festive period. However, the forum’s counsel, Bikash Bhattacharya, assured the court that the number of protesters would be limited to 100 and that they would not extend beyond the designated barricaded area. Bhattacharya also provided a video clip of the ongoing demonstration, arguing that it had not caused any significant disruption or inconvenience.
The court was also presented with a proposal to suspend the sit-in on December 25, suggesting a resumption on December 27. However, details of a decision on this proposal were not immediately clear.
Justice Ghosh’s order had noted the organizers, being medical professionals, were expected to be mindful of the potential hardships their demonstration could cause to commuters. He had set specific limits on the size of the stage and the number of participants to mitigate any disruption.
The backdrop to this protest is the death of a postgraduate trainee doctor, whose body was found on August 9 in the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has charged Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer with the local police, with her rape and murder. According to the CBI, the crime occurred when the victim was resting in the seminar room during a break.
