Supreme court refuses to transfer RG Kar rape-murder case outside West Bengal

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to transfer the case related to the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal.

“Yes, we did that (transferred the trial outside the state) in cases like Manipur (ethnic violence). But we do not do such a thing here. There is no such transfer,” the three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud told a lawyer seeking shifting of the hearing outside the state.

After the lawyer said that “the people of West Bengal have lost confidence in the police and the judiciary”, the CJI took him to court for making such a statement.

“Don’t talk about people. Who do you appear for? Don’t make such general statements. There is absolutely no such thing,” the Bench told the lawyer, taking suo motu notice of the horrific incident on August 18.

The high court said the trial judge had sufficient authority to conduct another investigation if necessary after reviewing the evidence.

He reviewed the sixth status report submitted by the CBI in the rape and murder case at RG Kar hospital in Kolkata but refrained from making observations, saying the investigation was ongoing.

The Kolkata court framed charges against the prime accused Sanjay Roy on November 4 and the day-to-day hearing of the case was stated to begin on November 11.