RG Kar verdict: CBI failed to look into larger conspiracy, claims civil society organisations

Kolkata, Jan 20 (PTI) Members of civil society organisations and film personalities, who had protested for a long time the rape and murder of an on-duty medic in RG Kar hospital in August last year, on Monday alleged that the CBI did not look into the angle of “larger conspiracy in the case leading to only one person being punished by a court.

Their accusation came hours after the trial court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the case, to life imprisonment till death in the case.

They alleged that besides Roy, other people were also involved in the crime but the investigating agency did not focus on the “larger conspiracy”.

“Only one person could not be behind the crime and the punishment of a single person cannot do justice to the victim’s family,” said Satabdi Das, writer and social activist and one of the initiators of a platform that gave the call for ‘Reclaim the night’ by women.

Protests in this mode were held several times across West Bengal since August 14 last year.

"We are not happy with the court judgement. We are of the view that merely punishing Sanjay Roy cannot ensure justice. But the court acted on the evidence submitted by the investigators. We have not been told about the other perpetrators involved in the crime,” Das said.

The turn of events since August 9, when the doctor’s body was found in the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, indicate that there have been “state-sponsored attempts” to hide evidence, Das, and 100 other members of the platform, alleged in a statement.

The platform, ‘Rat Dakhal Oikyo Manch' (Reclaim the Night Unity Manch), referred to RG Kar hospital’s former principal Sandip Ghosh and an ex-police officer who were arrested in the case and secured bail last month, to claim that the investigation was “shoddy”.

The two were granted bail after the CBI failed to file a charge sheet against them within the mandatory 90-day period.

CBI investigated the case after the Calcutta High Court handed it over to the central agency from Kolkata Police. Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police a day after the medic’s body was found.

“The subsequent release on bail of some other accused in the case as charges could not be framed against them show shoddiness in the entire probe so far, apparently giving little chance to the judiciary to look into the larger conspiracy aspect," the statement read.

It claimed that the developments would lead to an alarming sense of insecurity among common women and marginalized LGBTQ community people "as the perpetrators of abuse and attack on women will start believing that safeguarding the dignity, respect and self-esteem of women are not so important for the state and country”.

Members of Abhaya Manch, a platform of junior doctors and others, formed a human chain at Moulali Crossing, 500 metres away from Sealdah court in central Kolkata, protesting the verdict and the pace of the investigation.

Around 200 people also burnt effigies of CBI and Kolkata Police accusing them of shielding the perpetrators behind the crime.

They said they would continue to protest until all those behind the crime are arrested and punished.

Actor Debolina Dutta, one of the prominent faces of the R G Kar movement, told PTI: "The life imprisonment to Sanjay Roy is meaningless to me as he is not the main perpetrator of the crime. It is very clear from the outset that this cannot be the handiwork of one person. Our fight will not stop till all those behind such savage attacks are punished. Otherwise, women will never feel safe and people will lose faith in the state establishments." Actor Badshah Moitra said the court acts on pieces of evidence placed before it and apparently, the investigating agency's work in this case was unsatisfactory.

"The CBI failed to probe into certain issues like delay in lodging of FIR after the body of the woman was discovered, the crowding of so many people at the place of occurrence, the reason behind hasty cremation of her body and the state's role in the entire episode,” he said.

People are now looking forward to whether the CBI comes up with the answer to these queries, Moitra said. PTI SUS NN