The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Union Ministry of Health to revamp the infrastructure facilities at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kalyani, West Bengal to bring it at par with the AIIMS facilities in Delhi and Rishikesh.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh issued the directive while disposing of a plea by the father of the victim in the Jaynagar rape and murder case.
The father of the minor victim had requested that the postmortem, in this case, be conducted at a hospital run by the Central government. Consequently, the Court on Monday had ordered that the postmortem be conducted at the AIIMS in Kalyani.
Today, the Court was informed that the AIIMS at Kalyani lacked a postmortem facility. In view of this, the High Court has now directed AIIMS, Kalyani to conduct the procedure by using the infrastructure available at the State-run JNM Hospital in Kalyani.
Notably, the Court further directed the Additional Solicitor General to send a health in-charge team to assess and identify deficiencies at AIIMS Kalyani so that the same could be rectified.
This infrastructure revamp work has to be completed by December 31, 2025, the Court said.
"This should be done so that the common man can avail the best services of the doctors... You try to understand... First lot of the students will be coming out from this AIIMS... They don't have a post-mortem experience ... Why should people go to South India to get treated?" Justice Ghosh remarked.
The Court also directed the West Bengal government to ensure that there is no hindrance to revamping the AIIMS branch and to give all permissions required for the same.
"I will ensure that State will not act as bar... If any license is required ... This must be completed by the 31st of December 2025... This will benefit public at large... These are directions upon the Central government... What I am worried is the best of the students, without knowing post-mortem, will pass out the MBBS," the judge observed.
The Jaynagar rape case concerns the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl who was discovered in the Mahismari area of Jaynagar in the early hours of October 5.
Later in the day, a judicial magistrate turned down a police request to conduct a postmortem examination (in the presence of a judicial magistrate) at the Mominpur Police Morgue Hospital.
Thereafter, the State moved the High Court to challenge the trial court order. However, it later gave up the challenge and decided to come in support of the demand made by the victim's father that the postmortem be conducted at a hospital run by the Central government.
Advocate General Kishore Dutta, Public Prosecutor (PP) Debasish Roy, Addition PP Rudradipta Nandy and advocate Sanjana Saha appeared for the State.
Deputy Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi and advocate Bankim Pal appeared for the Union of India.
Advocates Billwadal Bhattacharyya, Chandan Kumar Saha, Gautam Sardar, Bhaskar Bhattacharyya, Apurbo Mondal, Dibakar Biswas, Raj Sharma, Pradip Kumar Mondal appeared for a respondent.
Advocates Samim Ahmed, Chandan Hossain, Rajit Lal Moitra, Arnab Sinha, Arka Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Arya Bhattacharyya, Ambiya Khatun and Enamul Islam appeared for the minor victim's family.