Under-fire former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly will join the protesting junior doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, to demand justice for the trainee doctor who was raped and brutally murdered.
Even as the Supreme Court took suo motu action in the rape and murder case and requested the protesting doctors to end their strike, the medics vowed to continue their agitation until the apex court delivers its verdict on Thursday. They will also hold a protest march today from RG Kar Hospital to Sashthya Bhawan.
The trainee doctor'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 the following day for his alleged involvement in the incident. Thousands have been protesting against the police apathy and the state government's handling of the probe.
Ganguly is expected to join the protesting doctors, along with his wife Dona. The former BCCI boss faced a huge backlash recently for referring to the rape and murder of the doctor as an “isolated incident”. Speaking to reporters at an event at the Biswa-Bangla Convention Centre, Ganguly had said that a state or a country should not be judged based on an isolated incident. “Such accidents happen all over the world. It is wrong to think that girls are not safe. Not only in West Bengal, but everywhere in India, women are safe,” he had said.
Following the backlash, he clarified that his remark was misconstrued, and added that the culprit should be given the harshest punishment so that nobody else dares to commit such crimes in future.
Ganguly also blacked out his DP on social media platform 'X', in solidarity with the protesting doctors, like several others.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/WiHJwDf6z1
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) August 19, 2024
SC orders removal of name, photos and videos
Ordering the removal of the name, photos and videos of the deceased trainee doctor from all social media platforms, the bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said disclosure of the identity of a victim of sexual assault is a violation of its order passed in the Nipun Saxena case.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by lawyer Kinnori Ghosh and others against the disclosure of the victim medic's identity on social media. The plea said the name of the deceased and related hashtags have been widely disseminated on electronic and social media platforms including Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google (YouTube) and X (formerly Twitter).
In its 2018 judgement in the Nipun Saxena case, the top court had said, "No person can print or publish in print, electronic, social media, etc. the name of the victim or even in a remote manner disclose any facts which can lead to the victim being identified and which should make her identity known to the public at large."
CBI may conduct polygraph test on principal
CBI may conduct a polygraph test on Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Ghosh, who resigned two days after the trainee doctor's body was found, has already been grilled by the central agency. According to PTI, there have been "discrepancies in some of the replies" given by him, and hence the CBI is mulling over the option to conduct a polygraph test.
