New Delhi:
The Supreme Courtroom at this time deep dived into the occasions at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital on Day One — after the invention of the physique of the 31-year-old physician who was raped and murdered. And at each step, the judges identified discrepancies and anomalies that have been extra absorbing than any common whodunit.
Particularly, the courtroom’s queries have been round three factors: The large time lag between discovery of the physique and the lodging of the First Info Report; the dying being known as unnatural even after a postmortem examination; the sealing of the crime scene after greater than 12 hours. All these, the judges indicated, has contributed to an image of a really distorted investigation.
The ball was set rolling by Solicitor Common Tushar Mehta.
Representing the Central Bureau of Investigation, the senior advocate began by choosing holes within the timeline of occasions offered by the West Bengal authorities. He mentioned what “stunned him probably the most” was the submitting of the First Info Report at 11.45 pm, after the cremation of the physique.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who was main the three-judge bench, mentioned what intrigued him was that the police filed a Common Diary at 10.10 am, turned up, however sealed the crime scene at 10.10 pm. “What was taking place there in all that point?” he mentioned.
As soon as the state clarified the postmortem was completed by 7.10 pm and admitted that the grievance of unnatural dying was filed by 11:30 pm.
Justice JB Pardiwala mentioned, “Was it an uncommon dying? In that case, what was the necessity for an post-mortem? Right here we are able to see that at 11:30 pm, an uncommon dying grievance is filed. And the FIR was filed after quarter-hour? Give correct data to the courtroom”.
Because the state remained silent, he mentioned, “Don’t create confusion this fashion. Have a accountable police officer right here on the subsequent listening to”.
“Who’s the Assistant Superintendent of Police? There are doubts about his position within the investigation. How did he conduct such an investigation?” he added.
Justice Manoj Mishra chimed in, saying when the postmortem was completed on the night of August 9, how may the police nonetheless file a First Info Report on unnatural dying.
When the state clarified that unnatural dying was first recorded within the Common Diary at 1.45 pm, the decide requested at what time the investigation began. When the state responded that it was at 3.45 pm, Justice Pardiwala ripped into the police.
“I’ve by no means seen such investigation in my 30 years of authorized profession,” he mentioned. “When you filed a case of unnatural dying earlier than post-mortem, what was the bottom? In case you have filed an unnatural dying case after the post-mortem, why did you accomplish that? The post-mortem is over and you realize the reason for dying,” he added.
After the recess, the courtroom’s consideration turned once more to the delay in submitting of the FIR.
“The physique was recovered at 9:30 am. And FIR was filed at 11:30 pm. FIR about 14 hours later! Why was the FIR filed 14 hours late? I can not discover any motive for it,” Justice Chandrachud mentioned.
The state had earlier defined {that a} case of unnatural dying is often filed when there isn’t a formal grievance. The courtroom had mentioned it’s the responsibility of the top of the establishment in such instances to lodge a proper grievance.
“Why did the Principal not come to file the FIR? Was anybody stopping him? Why was he transferred to a different hospital? The courtroom needs to know the explanation for all this,” Justice Chandrachud questioned once more at this time.
Former Principal Sandip Ghosh has been questioned by the CBI every single day for every week. Officers mentioned he has not been capable of give passable solutions to their queries to date. The company has filed a standing report of their investigation to the highest courtroom at this time, the contents of which has not been made public.
The case shall be heard subsequent on September 5.
