RG Kar Murder Rape Case: A local court today announced its verdict on the rape and murder case of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das of Sealdah Court has declared accused Sanjay Roy guilty. There will be a debate on the punishment in the court on Monday. Know here all the things related to this matter…
- August 9, 2024: An on-duty 31-year-old doctor was raped and murdered at the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. His semi-nude body was found on the third floor of the seminar hall.
- August 10: Kolkata Police, which was initially investigating the case, arrested the accused Sanjay Roy.
- August 12: Hospital principal Sandeep Ghosh resigns amid nationwide protests. The West Bengal government also transferred the superintendent of the hospital.
- August 13: The victim’s parents and several public interest litigations (PILs) filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation and citing distrust of the Kolkata Police. The High Court transferred the investigation to the CBI.
- August 14: Kolkata Police formally handed over Sanjay Roy to CBI.
- August 15: At RG Kar Medical College, protests turned violent and the mob damaged the hospital and the crime scene.
- 17 August: Health services were affected across the country as doctors’ body Indian Medical Association (IMA) shut down medical services for 24 hours in solidarity with the victims.
- August 8: Amid national outrage, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the case and fixed the hearing for August 20.
- August 20: A three-judge bench led by former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud criticized the Mamata Banerjee-led government, Kolkata Police and the hospital administration for the delay in registering the FIR. The court also constituted a 10-member task force to address the safety of doctors.
- 27 August: ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ call was given by ‘Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj’, an unregistered student organization and ‘Sangrami Joutha Manch’, a platform of disgruntled state government employees. The ruling Trinamool Congress alleged that it was a BJP-backed protest. However, the march to the West Bengal Secretariat turned into a clash between the police and the protesters.
- 28 August: BJP called for a statewide strike against this.
- September 2: CBI arrests Sandeep Ghosh in connection with alleged financial fraud at RG Kar Hospital during his tenure.
- September 14: Mamata Banerjee took a surprise step to break the standoff between her government and the protesting doctors and visited the site where the doctors were protesting and addressed them. The same day, the CBI arrested Sandeep Ghosh and Kolkata Police officer Abhijeet Mondal for delay in filing FIR and missing evidence in the RG Kar rape and murder case.
- October 5: Doctors begin hunger strike after more than 50 days of protests in two phases.
- October 7: CBI files charge sheet against accused Sanjay Roy in the case and says he allegedly committed the crime on August 9, when the doctor went to sleep in the seminar room of the hospital during leave.
- October 24: Protesting doctors end their hunger strike after meeting with Mamata Banerjee.
- November 12: In-camera hearing began in the doctor’s rape and murder case. Due to delay in filing the charge sheet, the accused in the case including Abhijit Mandal and Sandeep Ghosh got bail.
- December 13: Kolkata’s Sealdah court grants bail to Sandeep Ghosh and Abhijit Mandal in the case as the chargesheet was not filed against them within the mandatory 90-day period.
- January 9: The hearing of Sanjay Roy’s case was completed, during which 50 witnesses were interrogated.
- January 18, 2025: Sealdah court convicted Sanjay Roy.
The parents of the victim doctor have claimed that other people were also involved in the crime and they hope that they will also be arrested and prosecuted in the court.
