The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought data from the West Bengal government on the recruitment of civic volunteers who assist the police to carry out day to policing [In Re: Alleged Rape and Murder Incident of a Trainee Doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and Related Issues]
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra sought data regarding such recruitments after taking note of the fact that Sanjay Roy, the accused in the brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, was a civil police volunteer.
In that capacity, he had unrestricted access to the hospital building.
Civic volunteers are citizens recruited on a contractual basis as a mean to give employment to the unemployed and also to make up for the lack of manpower in policing.
They are usually made to do duties like manning traffic junctions and other minor tasks.
"Who recruits these civic volunteers. We need to know what are these qualifications. We need to know that such volunteers do not operate in hospitals, schools which are sensitive in nature," the Court said today.
"Also in police stations, there are 1,500 plus such volunteers as on date now," said Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy who was representing junior doctors before the Court.
"This is a nice way to confer political patronage on selected individuals. Let the State of West Bengal first give us the data," the Court said.
The Bench was hearing a suo motu case regarding the rape and murder of a 31-year-old resident doctor, who was found dead at the State-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal.
The doctor was found dead at a seminar hall of the college on August 9. An autopsy confirmed that she was raped and murdered.
The incident sparked nationwide outrage and protests with doctors in various parts of the country going on strike demanding stricter laws and policing to ensure the safety of medical professionals.
The matter is currently being probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the Calcutta High Court transferred the probe to the central agency.
They later arrested Roy who was a civil police volunteer with the West Bengal Police.
Meanwhile, the top court initiated the suo motu case to examine the issue of safety of doctors at workplace.
The Court had earlier issued several directives including the establishment of a National Task Force to examine the issues concerning safety and dignity of doctors and medical professionals and to address gender-based violence against such professionals at the workplace.
The Court had even directed the State and CBI to submit status reports on the progress of investigation into the case, and instructed that CISF security be provided at the hospital.
During the previous hearings, it had also expressed concerns regarding the slow pace at which security measures were being implemented in the medical colleges/ hospitals in the State, and questioned the the West Bengal government in this regard.
Story to be updated.