The central government on September 3 approached the Supreme Court, accusing the West Bengal government of "unpardonable" lack of cooperation in providing logistical support to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is tasked with providing security at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The hospital was recently the site of a tragic incident where a trainee doctor was raped and murdered.
Terming the alleged non-cooperation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government as an example "symptomatic of a systemic malaise", the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a direction to West Bengal authorities to provide full cooperation to CISF, PTI reported.
In case of their failure to do so, the Centre urged the top court to initiate contempt proceedings against the state government officials concerned for “wilful non-compliance” of the court orders.
The Supreme Court, on August 20, termed the rape and murder case of a trainee doctor at the hospital as "horrific" and issued several directives. Among these was the establishment of a 10-member National Task Force. This task force was charged with developing a protocol to ensure the safety and security of doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Furthermore, the apex court also addressed the issue of mob violence at the hospital with grave concern. It noted allegations that the Kolkata police had fled the scene during the incident. In response, the court ordered the deployment of the CISF at the hospital to enable doctors to resume work.
In its application, the Ministry alleged that the CISF personnel deployed at RG Kar Hospital are facing severe difficulties due to lack of accommodation and lack of basic security infrastructure. It said the MHA had taken up the matter with the chief secretary of West Bengal through a September 2 letter requesting for adequate logistical arrangement and security gadgets required by the force.
"It is submitted that thereafter, there has been no response from the state government to ensure adequate support to the CISF personnels which are deployed to ensure security of the residents/workers in the RG Kar Medical Hospital under the orders of this court," the application said.
The trainee doctor's body was found severe injury marks inside the seminar hall of the hospital's chest department on August 9. A civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy was arrested by Kolkata Police the next day in connection with the case.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered transferred the probe from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started its investigation on August 14.
(With PTI inputs)
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