Speed up trial to retain faith in judiciary: HC on cases related to RG Kar Hospital
Telegraph | 12 February 2025
The high court on Tuesday said the trial in cases related to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital should be expedited to maintain people’s faith and confidence in the judiciary.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi said this while hearing a plea by former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and others accused of financial irregularities at the government medical college.
Justice Bagchi was the senior judge on the division bench that heard the plea.
The comment comes amid allegations that the CBI has not handed over all the documents related to the case to the defendants, delaying the proceedings.
“The alleged crime is heinous in nature and should be tried as early as possible,” Justice Bagchi said.
The counsel appearing for Ghosh, on whose watch as principal a young doctor was raped and killed at RG Kar on August 9, and the other accused said their clients had yet to access the documents related to the charges brought against them by the CBI.
“Of the 462 documents, only 216 have been handed to them. How can they defend themselves if the documents are not provided to them,” the lawyer appearing for Ghosh said.
The bench of Justice Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth said: “To maintain the confidence of the general public in the judicial system, the trial of cases related to the hospital should be held with immediate effect.”
Ghosh had moved the court seeking an order to restrict a lower court from starting the process of framing charges against them.
Justice Bagchi said the allegation against the accused was serious and “this type of crime creates great impact both on the health system and administration”.
The division bench had earlier said that as the accused should be given a chance to defend themselves, the trial court should not frame charges against them without hearing them.
On Tuesday, the bench directed the CBI to provide the accused scanned copies of the remaining documents within 24 hours.
“After going through the chargesheet, the accused will attend the Alipore court (Special CBI Court) and express their views. This process should be done by Monday,” Justice Bagchi said.
The division bench will hear the case again on Tuesday.
The allegations against Ghosh include illegal allotment of government tenders to ineligible vendors for setting up stalls and canteens in the hospital compound, engaging third-party contractors for civil and engineering work without the PWD’s involvement, illegal sale of “used hazardous biomedical waste” and unlawful recruitment of contractual employees.
Apart from Ghosh, the accused in the case are Ashish Pandey, a former house staff at RG Kar; Afsar Ali, who was Ghosh’s guard when he was principal; and two contractors, Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra.