New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Sunday took suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear the matter on Tuesday. The case was registered around 1.03 pm.

The body of the post-graduate trainee doctor was found in the hospital's seminar room on August 9. Kolkata Police arrested a civic volunteer the next day in this connection.

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On August 13, the Calcutta High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the investigation, after expressing a lack of satisfaction with the Kolkata Police. The High Court passed the order acting on petitions filed by one of the parents of the victim and certain other individuals.

“The parents of the victim have an apprehension that if the investigation is allowed to continue in this manner, it will derail. Therefore they pray for extraordinary relief. One more disturbing aspect is that a case of unnatural death was registered. It is submitted that such cases are registered when there is no complaint. When the deceased was a doctor in the same hospital, it is surprising that the principal did not lodge a complaint. There has been no significant progress in the investigation. The administration was not with the victim or her family. The principal has not even given a statement. Without significant progress in the investigation, we would be well justified in accepting the prayers of the victim's parents that evidence would be destroyed. Therefore we transfer the investigation to the CBI to do justice between parties and to inspire public confidence," the High Court bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya observed.

Recently, the High Court pulled up the West Bengal machinery for the acts of vandalism at the RG Kar hospital during protests on August 14.
(With Live Law inputs)

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