THE CRIMINAL BLUNDERS

HOW THE HOSPITAL, THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE STATE GOVERNMENT BUNGLED AT EVERY STEP

- \ARKAMOY DATTA MAJUMDAR

Denial seems to have been the default response in the sordid saga of the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) in Kolkata on August 9. First it was the hospital that refused to divulge that the medic was a victim of rape and murder, then the police who tried to pass it off as a case of unnatural death, followed by the administration that failed to realise the gravity of the public’s anger or acknowledge that the Independence Day-eve mob vandalism of the hospital premises was perhaps the handiwork of their own Trinamool Congress supporters. On the other side of denial was the overload of information, chiefly on social media.

A miasma of rumour, untruth and mischief floated around with viral force, masquerading as truth while actually obfuscating it. As expected, the overenthusiasm proved dangerous, as it ended up with a revelation of the victim’s name and half-clad pictures of her body at the mortuary.

Ten days later, the circus hadn’t stopped. Following several petitions in the Calcutta High Court, the case has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation; the Supreme Court too has held suo motu hearings, coming down heavily on the multiple acts of omission and commission in the entire episode. While it may take a while for all facts in the case to come to light, it’s worth recounting the several criminal lapses that have dogged the ghastly incident. Here are some of the chief follies we have been able to ascertain.

THE VICTIM

A 31-year-old second-year postgraduate trainee doctor of pulmonary medicine at RGKMCH. The only child of her parents, who lived in Sodepur in Kolkata's outskirts, she completed her MBBS from JNM Medical College and Hospital, Nadia, and aspired to be a gold medallist, as a diary entry reveals.

THE ACCUSED