The Supreme Court has termed the brutality with the doctor in Kolkata as a horrific incident and has expressed concern over the institutional failure regarding the safety of doctors and health workers across the country. The apex court said that compromise with the health and safety of those providing health care to others will not be tolerated. The country cannot wait for another rape or murder for ground-level change.
The Supreme Court has constituted a 14-member National Task Force to establish a mechanism to ensure the safety of doctors and health workers across the country. The court assured the doctors of security and also appealed to them to return to work in the interest of society and patients. Along with this, the Supreme Court also reprimanded the Bengal government by raising questions on the delay in registering an FIR in the case of brutality with the doctor.
CBI is investigating the brutality with the doctor
The court also took the Mamata government to task for the failure of the state police to reach the hospital emergency and the spot when the mob entered the hospital on the night of 14-15 August created a ruckus and asked what was the police doing. The court has asked the Bengal government to file a status report on the investigation of the riot and has also sought a status report from the CBI, which is investigating the brutality against the doctor.
The court has handed over the security of the hospital and hostel to the central force CISF by issuing an RG. Not only this, recognizing the right to peaceful protest, the court has told the Bengal government that it will not use force against peaceful protesters. The court will hear the case again on August 22.
Laws prohibit any kind of violence against health workers
This order was given on Tuesday by a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Mishra, asking the task force to consider various issues and submit an interim report in three weeks and a final report in two months. The bench said that various states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu have laws to prevent violence against health workers and destruction of property. These laws prohibit any kind of violence against health workers. However, the institutional and systemic reasons for the problem have not been highlighted in these. Without improving the level of institutional security, it will not be possible to effectively solve the problem of increase in punishment.
The apex court, in its order, mentioned the ground reality of the shortcomings of the security level in hospitals and health centers and said that there is no proper place for the doctors and health workers deployed on night duty to rest. There are fewer duty rooms. Intern and resident doctors work 36-hour shifts, and there is no proper arrangement for cleanliness and rest for them.
National Task Force formed
There is a shortage of security personnel in the medical care unit. There is no safe transport facility for these people to go to the hostel. Many other reasons have been given in the order and view of all these things, the court has formed a National Task Force which will consider these aspects and give its suggestions. Apart from this, the court has told the central government that it will collect information from the states on the security measures in the hospitals of the states and will inform the court by filing an affidavit in a month.
Members of the National Task Force
1- Surgeon Vice Admiral Aarti Sareen
2- Dr. N. Nageswara Reddy (Chairman and Managing Director of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospital Hyderabad)
3- Dr. M. Srinivas (Director of AIIMS Delhi)
4- Dr. Pratima Murthy (Director of National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore)
5- Dr. Govardhan Dutt Puri (Executive Director of AIIMS Jodhpur)
6- Dr. Saumitra Rawat (Member Board of Management Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Delhi)
7- Prof. Anita Saxena (Former Dean of Pandit BD Sharma Medical University, Rohtak, and Head of the Cardiology Department at AIIMS Delhi)
8- Dr. Pallavi Saple (Dean of Grant Medical College and JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai)
9- Dr. Padma Srivastava (Former Professor of Neurology Department of Delhi AIIMS. Currently Chairperson of Neurology at Paras Health Gurugram)
10- Cabinet Secretary
11- Union Home Secretary
12- Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
13- Chairman of the National Medical Commission
14- Chairman of the National Board of Examination
The apex court surrounded the Bengal government with questions
When the crime was known in the early morning, then why were the parents told about the suicide? Why were they shown the dead body late? - The FIR of murder and brutality of the doctor was registered late at night. Why was there so much delay in registering the FIR? (The court saw the case documents and the postmortem report file for half an hour) - Was an FIR registered? Was an FIR registered for murder?
On the court's question, state government lawyer Kapil Sibal said that first an FIR was registered for unnatural death. After the postmortem, an FIR for murder was registered (at 11.45 pm).
- On whose information was the FIR registered?
On this question, Sibal said that the FIR was registered on the complaint of the father of the doctor who was the victim of brutality.
Supreme Court asked question after questions
- What was the principal doing? Why did he not register an FIR for the incident till late at night?
-When the principal of RG Kar College was under investigation, how was he removed from there and immediately appointed at another place?
- When doctors were working in critical facilities, how did the riotous mob enter the hospital? They destroyed everything there. What was your police doing?
- The police should have provided security to the crime spot, where were the police?
- The Bengal government should file a status report of the investigation into the case of a riotous mob entering the hospital and vandalizing it.
- The Bengal government will not use force on peaceful protesters.
Three police officers suspended in Bengal after strict remarks by the Supreme Court
Just hours after the Supreme Court made strict remarks on Tuesday in the case of molestation of a doctor in Kolkata, the Mamata government suspended two assistant commissioners and an inspector of Kolkata Police.
Orders for a departmental inquiry have also been given. This action has been taken in the case of vandalism at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the night of August 14. Negligence was found in the work of these officers.
Some parts were vandalized
Let us tell you that at midnight a large number of unidentified people entered the hospital premises and vandalized some parts of it. All this happened despite the presence of a large number of police and Rapid Action Force inside and outside the hospital.
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