Doctors protest against the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Credit: PTI Photo
Kolkata: Family members of the RG Kar hospital victim moved the Sealdah court on Tuesday seeking its leave to visit the scene of crime, following a June 26 Calcutta High Court direction that left it to the discretion of the trial court to decide on the parents' plea, officials said.
The plea of the parents, moved through their counsels, to inspect the crime scene except the seminar room where their daughter's body was found on August 9, 2024, was opposed by the state as well as Sandip Ghosh, former principal of the medical college, and Abhijit Mondal, former officer-in-charge of the Tala police station – both accused in the case.
The CBI, though, submitted before the Sealdah Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Arijit Mondal that the probe agency has no objections to the family's prayer.
The move, barely a month before the first anniversary of the ghastly rape and murder that sparked nationwide outrage and protests, came in the wake of allegations of a "botched-up investigation" from the victim's parents and other stakeholders of the institution, especially the agitating junior doctors.
They also alleged a "systemic cover-up" of the circumstances leading to the offence.
The CBI, in its chargesheet filed in October last year, named former civic police volunteer Sanjoy Roy as the sole suspect in connection with the crime, indicating there was no gangrape perpetrated on the trainee doctor, and maintained that the victim died due to asphyxia, resulting from the combined effect of throttling and smothering.
The Sealdah sessions court has sentenced Roy to imprisonment till the end of his natural life after finding him guilty of the crime.
In November, the agency named Ghosh and four others in its chargesheet in the alleged corruption and financial irregularities cases in the hospital.
While both Ghosh and Mondal were subsequently released on bail in the evidence-tampering cases directly connected to the murder, the latter continues to remain in jail in the hospital corruption case.
"We moved court with the prayer to visit the crime scene because all we are privy to about the crime so far are pictures and video footage of the scene. Unless we inspect the scene with our own eyes, which can radically alter our perception of the investigation carried out so far, we cannot affirm our apprehensions and decide on how to argue the matter, which continues to be heard in high court," one of the counsels of the parents, Phiroze Edulji, told PTI.
Asked whether the prayer for inspection is connected to the possibility of the parents demanding further investigation into the crime or even a fresh probe, Edulji said, "Why else would the parents appoint me to argue this matter?" Vehemently opposing the appeal, the state argued that since the high court continues to hear the matter related to the investigation, no one has the right to inspect the place of occurrence.
"The state reasoned that there are no sections under law that allows us to inspect the crime scene. My counter argument was there are no sections in law that debars us from doing so," Edulji said.
Counsels for Ghosh and Mondal echoed the arguments of the state, and stated they had objections to the family's petitions. One of them added that the visit should be videographed in the event of the court choosing to allow the prayer of the parents.
"If this crime had taken place in an open public space like the Sealdah railway station, I would not have needed the court's permission to inspect it afresh. It's only because the crime took place inside an institution, which is currently guarded by the CRPF that I have moved the court," the victim's family lawyer said.
Following the hearing of submissions of both sides, the court reserved its order.
"The high court has directed the lower court to dispose of the application within 48 hours of being made before it. So, the court will have to pass its judgment by Wednesday," Edulji added.