RG Kar case: Suggestions on security, safety of doctors to be shared with NTF, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the parties to share their recommendations and suggestions on preventing gender-based violence and developing safety protocols for doctors and medical staff at hospitals with the court-appointed national task force.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said the NTF will file its report within 12 weeks from Tuesday for its consideration.

The top court constituted the NTF on August 20 to formulate a protocol for ensuring safety and security of medical professionals in the wake of the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

While hearing the suo motu case on Tuesday, the CJI said the case would be next heard in the week commencing March 17, 2025, but suggested the parties could seek an earlier hearing if the rape and murder trial of the case was delayed.

In November, the NTF in its report -- part of the Central government's affidavit -- stated that a separate central law to deal with offences against health care professionals was not required.

The panel said the state laws had adequate provisions to address the day-to-day minor offences besides the serious ones under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

In a slew of recommendations in its report, the NTF said 24 states had already enacted laws to address violence against health care professionals, whereby the terms "health care institutions" and "medical professionals" were also defined.

It said two more states had introduced their Bills in this regard.

On September 17, the top court said it was disturbed by the findings given in the CBI's status report in the case while refusing to divulge the details and observed that any disclosure may jeopardise the ongoing investigation.