WB rape accused to face polygraph test; healthcare services still affected

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI, Aug 19: The CBI, probing the rape-murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, has been granted permission to conduct a polygraph test on the accused, a civic volunteer in the agency’s custody, as protests continue to disrupt healthcare services in state-run hospitals across West Bengal for the eleventh straight day.
The CBI, tasked by the Calcutta High Court to probe the case, received local court approval to conduct a polygraph test on the accused, days after performing a psychoanalysis test on him.
The protests escalated on Monday as senior doctors Kunal Sarkar and Subarna Goswami, who had posted about the incident on social media, appeared before police after leading a march of hundreds of healthcare professionals from Calcutta Medical College to Kolkata Police headquarters, where they were stopped near Phears Lane-BB Ganguly Street and escorted inside by senior officers.
Kolkata Police, intensifying its crackdown on alleged social media misinformation – which the opposition has criticised as an attempt to silence dissent – arrested a person for allegedly disclosing the victim’s identity on social media and issuing threats to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The young woman doctor, whose body was found on August 9, was allegedly raped-murdered while on duty, leading to the arrest of a civic volunteer by Kolkata Police the next day, and the Calcutta High Court subsequently ordered the transfer of the probe to the CBI on August 13, with the agency starting its probe on August 14.
Speaking to reporters, Dr Kunal Sarkar said, “We want justice for the young doctor, and we have not committed any crime.” Both the doctors came out of police headquarters within an hour and claimed that police had dismissed their summons and had sought the cooperation of the medical fraternity.
“They sought our cooperation. However, sending a summons is not a proper way of seeking cooperation. We told police to think at least twice before sending summons to a doctor on flimsy grounds,” Goswami said.
Several former students of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital joined the ongoing demonstrations, staging a sit-in alongside younger doctors and holding placards demanding swift justice.
A veteran doctor from the 1964 batch said, “What has happened in the hospital is just unthinkable, and it is the call of the hour to hit the streets to protest.” A person was arrested in Kolkata for allegedly revealing the identity of the doctor on social media and making threats against CM Mamata Banerjee, following a complaint lodged at Taltala police station.
Police have also sent summons to several social media users over their posts.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has allowed enhancement of security deployment by 25 per cent at all union government hospitals, official said, amid protests by resident doctors demanding a central law following the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital.
Officials said that apart from the standard security protocol, the deployment of marshals would also be approved based on individual demands by government hospitals after they conduct their security assessment.
Official sources, however, said bringing a central law based on the RG Kar case “will not make any huge difference” as the alleged rape and murder of the junior doctor at the Kolkata facility was not a case of patient-doctor violence.
Crimes and rapes are already covered under existing laws, they said.
They further said that 26 states and Union Territories including West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka and Kerala have passed legislations to protect healthcare personnel. In all these states these offences are cognisable and non-bailable.
“So, bringing in an ordinance or even a Central law, that too based on the RG Kar case which was not a patient-doctor violence incident, will not make any huge difference,” an official source said. (PTI)