During a hearing on the RG Kar rape-murder case, senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the West Bengal government, submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court outlining the initiatives being undertaken to enhance safety and security in medical colleges across the state.
Today, Tuesday, October 15, the hearing resumed for the RG Kar rape-murder case in the Supreme Court by the bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud.
The state informed the Supreme Court that it has sanctioned work worth Rs 123 crores to strengthen infrastructure and security in government hospitals across the state of West Bengal.
The affidavit indicated that nearly 90 to 95 per cent of this work has been completed and the rest is expected to be done by October 31.
On the other hand, appearing for doctors’ associations, Senior Advocate Karua Nandy argued that while some work has been started in the hospitals, it is nowhere near completion, as informed by the doctors.
“We are being told by our 25,000 doctors that the work is not being done at this scale,” said Advocate Nandy.
However, responding to this, the CJI said that the court cannot ignore the affidavit which has been submitted by the government.
“An affidavit has been filed...the affidavit indicates that the state govt has sanctioned work worth Rs. 123 crores of which a substantial part has been completed. The updated status for 28 medical colleges has been tabulated in a table. The shortfall of the work in the 28 medical colleges would be completed by 25 October 2024 and in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital by 31 October 2024,” noted the CJI, as per a tweet by the Supreme Court Observer.
The West Bengal government also informed that an additional 1,500+ security personnel have been approved for deployment, out of which, 910 would be female personnel.
