‘Justice is still due’: A year on, RG Kar victim’s family and friends rue ‘lack of closure’; say CBI ignored key forensic evidence
Times of India | 8 August 2025
A year after the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College, the pursuit of justice continues. Despite a conviction, the victim's parents believe multiple assailants were involved, citing ignored forensic evidence. Kolkata: Aniket Mahata, then a final-year PGT, was on night shift at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital trauma care centre on the intervening night of Aug 8 and 9 last year when a 31-year-old junior doctor was raped and murdered there. While the distance between the emergency building where the crime took place and the trauma care building is barely 50 metres, Mahata was oblivious to the crime till the morning of Aug 9.
"I was still on duty when I heard the painful news around 9.30 am. What unfolded led to more pain and anger, and this feeling will cease only after Abhaya gets justice. We still believe more than one person were involved. No supplementary charge sheet has been filed yet," said anaesthesiologist Mahata, a prominent face of the RG Kar movement.
A final-year chest medicine PGT worked with the victim, a year junior, till evening before he wound up his duty and went back to the hostel on the hospital campus. "She was on charge for the night, and I was on call in case of emergency. When I did not get any call till late in the night, I went off to sleep thinking all was fine. The news of rape-murder jolted me out of bed," said the junior doctor, who has now left for another state.
Normalcy has returned to the campus, with thousands of patients thronging the hospital daily. Even as the explosive expression of the angst and pain inflicted by the rape-murder is on the wane, most on the campus said the agony refuses to leave them.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of a sea of patients, a year-old dharna mancha stands still on the campus. Even as the mancha does not host any flurry of activities that it used to witness for months after Aug 9, 2024, it is a constant reminder of the gruesome rape-murder. Even as the protests have died down, friends and colleagues in small groups ensure to light up candles every evening at the protest site and hold brief prayer meets. "The seminar room is still sealed due to the ongoing probe. This is again a constant reminder that justice is still due," said a house staff.
For the parents, the quest for justice has not ended. The CBI charge sheet names just one man, Sanjay Roy, as the prime accused. A trial court has convicted him for life. While speaking to TOI, the victim's parents insist forensic and medical reports point to presence of more assailants. "The CBI officers could not explain why over 90 FLCL (Forensic Laboratory Crime Lab) and MIB (Medical Information Bureau) reports indicating multiple persons were ignored," the victim's father said. "We expected a broader probe. Instead, the CBI simply echoed Kolkata Police.
" His wife called the agency's findings "a travesty of justice". The couple say repeated requests to meet the PM, home minister and the President have gone unanswered.
After the incident, the chest medicine department no longer deploys a woman junior doctor in the ward on night duty. Many junior doctors said they still got an eerie feeling working in the ward. "Each time I pass by the seminar room, it reminds me of the brutal rape-murder. While time slowly heals the mind, the fact that justice is not delivered yet still angers me," said a nurse.
As another Aug 9 comes closer, discussions on rape-murder have started appearing between chit-chats, whether it is in the hospital corridors or at the canteen. Soumyadip Roy of West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front said that in addition to the pain and anguish, frustration was setting in. "Both the state and CBI have not done adequate probe. It is frustrating," said Roy.
The emergency block that bore the brunt of mob violence on the night of Aug 14 last year remains frozen in time. "The emergency unit remains vandalised and under lock-and-key even as CBI has already given the go-ahead to repairs. This itself is a reminder of the heinous crime and attempts at muzzling the justice slogan," said emergency medical officer Tapan Pramanick.
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