RG Kar murder case: Calcutta HC bench recuses itself from hearing

A division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, which was allotted the RG Kar rape & murder case by the then Chief Justice of the HC, TS Sivagnanam, on Wednesday recused itself from hearing the matter.

According to the division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi, when the matter was allotted for hearing to it by then Chief Justice Sivagnanam, it was hearing criminal cases.

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Since this Bench does not hear criminal cases anymore, the judges decided to recuse themselves from hearing the matter and referred the matter back to the current Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, who will now decide which a new Bench for the hearing.

The division Bench also observed that hearing the matter on a fast-track basis will not be possible for the Bench. Parents of the victim student of the hospital had pleaded for fast tracking the case.

On the morning of 9 August, 2024, the body of a junior doctor of Kolkata’s state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital was discovered from the seminar hall of the hospital.

A city trial court convicted the sole accused, Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer of Kolkata Police and sentenced him to life imprisonment. But the victim’s parents were not satisfied with the findings of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation and had approached the Calcutta High Court with their contentions against the CBI findings.

They also pleaded for a fast-track hearing in the matter.