HC directs victim’s parents to seek trial court nod to visit crime scene: Edited
The Statesman | 27 June 2025
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the parents of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor, who was raped and murdered at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, to approach the Sealdah trial court for permission to visit the crime scene.
The request was made through their counsel, Phiroze Edulji, seeking leave to inspect the site of the incident — excluding the seminar room — within the hospital premises.
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The young doctor was found raped and murdered on 9 August last year inside the Chest Medicine Department, located on the fourth floor of the nine-storey casualty building at the state-run teaching hospital. The brutal incident sparked nationwide outrage, with people taking to the streets demanding justice.
The High Court had earlier transferred the investigation from Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, before whom the plea was filed, observed that as further investigation is being conducted by the CBI and the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Sealdah, is seized of the matter, no order could be passed without informing the magistrate.
He directed that the petitioners may approach the ACJM court with their request, and the ACJM is to dispose of the application within 48 hours of its submission.
Deputy Solicitor General Rajdeep Majumdar, appearing for the CBI, submitted that as the CRPF is responsible for security at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, permission to visit the crime scene must be granted by a court of law.
Senior advocate and Trinamul Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, representing the West Bengal government, opposed the plea. He argued that if the petitioner intends to seek a reinvestigation, such a move must be accompanied by a formal request to set aside the investigation and its consequences from inception.
Mr Banerjee further stated that the petitioner must clarify whether they are seeking further investigation or an entirely fresh probe into the crime.
Former civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, who was found guilty of the rape and murder, has been sentenced to life imprisonment until the end of his natural life by the Sealdah sessions court.