On Wednesday, the Supreme Court (SC) governed hospitals, including Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), to regularize the ‘unauthorized’ absence of doctors who took part in the protest of rape and murder case of a RG Kar Medical College and Hospital’s doctor in August 2024.
PTI reported, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar noted that some hospitals had regularized the doctors’ absence after the August 22, 2024 order from a doctors’ committee, but that some facilities, like AIIMS Delhi, chose to regard the time as leave.
CJI was quoted by PTI as saying, “We deem it appropriate to clarify that if protesting workers had joined work post the Supreme Court order then their absences shall be regularized and not be treated as absence from duty. This is issued in peculiar facts and circumstances of the cases and is not laying down any precedent”.
According to the doctor’s committee’s lawyer, the decision to classify the protest period as leave “may create trouble for some of the medical post-graduate students”.
The Centre’s Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta stated, the hospitals would abide by the top court’s orders as the case was non-adversarial.
Mehta stated, Delhi’s AIIMS, decided to treat the period as leave of absence availed by the doctors.
The bench stated, “By an earlier order, it was stated that no coercive step would be taken against the protesting doctors for protests till the date of the order. Pursuant to this some of the AIIMS such as Kalyani and Gorakhpur and the PGI Chandigarh have regularized the absence. However, some other institutes have treated the said period as if doctors were on leave”.
RG Kar Murder Case Verdict
On January 20, the Sealdah sessions court convicted Sanjay Roy, the only person who found guilty of the August 9 rape and murder of a trainee doctor on duty at RG Kar Hospital, to rigorous life imprisonment till the end of his natural life.
Last year, the doctor was raped and murdered, which led to widespread indignation and protracted demonstrations in West Bengal. Medical services across the nation were impacted by the doctor’s strike.
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