Kolkata, May 12 Justice Rajasekhar Mantha's bench in the Calcutta High Court has recused itself from hearing the case of the rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The bench noted that there was a surplus of cases in the court. The state government is likely to form a judicial commission to address the case. In the interest of justice, the bench was of the opinion that the case could be heard by that bench, which could dedicate sufficient time to the issue.
It may be noted that the CBI has submitted a status report to the Calcutta High Court, which the court accepted.
In the previous hearing, Justice Mantha's bench had said that if necessary, the CBI could interrogate the convict and other suspects in the RG Kar case. The central investigating agency can interrogate any person to take the investigation forward, it had said. The CBI submitted the status report on that basis.
In March 2025, the division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak withdrew from hearing the case filed by the victim's family. The judge had said that the court was unable to give time to that case. The family had applied for an early hearing of the case, but could not get a full hearing in that court. Due to a lack of time, the division bench of Justice Basak decided to leave the case.
The body of the female doctor was recovered on August 9, 2024, at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The next day of the incident, Civic Volunteer Sanjay Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police. Later, the CBI took over the investigation on the orders of the Calcutta High Court. On January 18, 2025, the Sealdah court announced the verdict in the RG case. Roy was found guilty and convicted.
Judge Anirban Das ordered his life imprisonment on January 20, 2025. But before the Sealdah court gave its verdict, the victim's parents filed an application in the High Court. The application was filed before the bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh of the High Court, raising various questions about the CBI investigation. Justice Ghosh declined to hear the petition of the victim's family because the RG Kar case was also being heard in the Supreme Court.
After this, the victim's parents filed the same petition in the Supreme Court. A hearing was also held on it. But the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Sanjiv Khanna, raised the question of why the same petition would be heard in the court, and said the High Court would hear the case. The hearing of that case has been going on in the High Court since then.
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