New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday in an order directed hospital and medical colleges across country to not penalise doctors and medical professionals, who participated in protests against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, and had now returned to their duties.
During the hearing on the suo moto case titled “Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, and related issues”, the apex court had urged the protesting medical fraternity across the country to resume work at the earliest.
On August 22, 2024, the SC had assured the resident doctors and interns that no adverse action would be taken against them for participating in protests in the wake of the horrific incident.
“Since this court is seized of the matter pertaining to the safety and well-being of all medical professionals at their workplaces, and the issue involving high national priority, we will request all the doctors, who are abstaining from work, to resume work at the earliest,” a bench headed by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud had said.
It had said that medical doctors and professionals stand assured that their concerns are receiving the highest attention from the top court.
After a bench headed by CJI Sanjiv Khanna was apprised that several punitive measures, including marking protesting doctors on leave, deduction of casual leaves, etc. were taken by the administration of different hospitals, the bench, also comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar, clarified that the absence of doctors, who have resumed work pursuant to its August 22, 2024 order, will be regularised and not treated as absence from duty.
“This direction is issued in peculiar facts and circumstances and shall not be read as laying down a precedent,” the CJI Khanna-led Bench added.
Taking suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder case of the junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the Supreme Court had termed the incident “horrific,” which raises the “systemic issue of safety of doctors across the country”.
“We are deeply concerned about the fact that there is an absence of safe conditions of work for young doctors across the country, particularly, public hospitals,” it had said.