'It's Dangerous..': SC Asks If Kolkata Rape-Murder Victim's Autopsy Took Place Before Police Case

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Kolkata Police’s delay in adding an “unnatural death case” to its records while probing the rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 was “extremely disturbing”.

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A top court bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra resumed hearing its suo motu plea related to the rape and murder of the trainee doctor on Thursday and said, “One aspect is the Daily Diary (GD) entry by Kolkata Police was made at 10:10 am, but the crime scene was secured only in the late evening. It’s disturbing.”

It also questioned the time difference between the police’s General Diary entry of recording the crime and securing the crime scene.

The court mentioned that it was “very surprising” that the postmortem of the deceased was conducted before the registration of the case as unnatural death.

The Supreme Court said though the crime took place in the night, the crime scene was secured after more than 18 hours around 7 pm on August 9 after the post-mortem of the body.

The court said, “See it is clear that an unnatural death case was registered at 11:30 pm after the officer came back to the police station. This is after the post-mortem.” The apex court then orally suggested the CBI to look into the irregularity.

During the hearing, the CBI submitted its status report in compliance with the Supreme Court’s Tuesday directive and flagged issues with the date and time recorded by the Kolkata Police. The probe agency also informed the top court about the financial irregularities at RG Kar, especially the fact that the CCTVs were rented and not bought.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the FIR was registered at 11:45 a.m. after the body’s cremation, and the videography was only conducted after senior doctors and the victim’s colleagues insisted, indicating they also suspected foul play.

Supreme Court also directed the Kolkata Police officer, who registered the first entry about the rape-murder incident, to appear at the next hearing to disclose the time.