09 September,2024 12:15 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
Supreme Court of India. File Pic
The West Bengal government told the Supreme Court on Monday that 23 people have died as doctors are on strike protesting the rape and murder of a postgraduate medic at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, reported news agency PTI.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, submitted a status report filed by the state health department before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
"A status report has been filed. The state health department has filed a report. Twenty-three people have died as doctors are on strike," Sibal told the bench also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, reported PTI.
The apex court is currently perusing the status report filed by the state and the CBI. The hearing is underway.
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On August 22, the apex court had tore into the Kolkata Police over the delay in registering the unnatural death of the woman doctor, who was raped and killed at the RG Kar Hospital, calling it "extremely disturbing", and questioned the sequence of events and the timing of its procedural formalities, reported PTI.
The top court had earlier constituted a 10-member National Task Force (NTF) to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other health care professionals.
Terming the Kolkata doctor rape-murder case incident as "horrific", the apex court had excoriated the state government over the delay in filing the FIR and allowing thousands of people to vandalise the state-run facility.
The alleged rape and murder of the junior doctor in a seminar hall of the state-run hospital has sparked nationwide protests.
The medic's body with severe injury marks was found inside the seminar hall of the hospital's chest department on August 9. A civic volunteer was arrested by the Kolkata Police in connection with the Kolkata doctor rape-murder case the following day, reported PTI.
On August 13, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe from the Kolkata Police to the CBI, which started its investigation on August 14.
Slogans demanding justice for the RG Kar rape-murder victim reverberated the air at the stroke of midnight on Sunday across Kolkata and many other cities and towns in West Bengal, reported PTI.
Protesters, both women and men, young and old took to the streets, forming human chains, writing graffiti on the roads, holding burning torches and singing the national anthem as many waved the tricolour, the only flag allowed in the apolitical rallies across the state by the civil society, to register their protest against the murder of the young doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital a month ago on August 9.
(With inputs from PTI)
