Calcutta High Court Bench Recuses From Hearing RG-Kar Case: Says Can't Give Time, Victim's Family Says CBI Has Not Conducted New Probe

The bench hearing the RG Kar rape-murder case in the Calcutta High Court recused itself from the case. A bench of Justices Raja Shekhar Mantha and Roy Chatterjee said during the hearing on Tuesday, "We cannot give time to the case due to other cases. During the hearing, the CBI also submitted its investigation report. On this, the victim's family said that no new investigation has been conducted by the agency. The court had in May asked the CBI to investigate the case afresh. The high court said that this is an important case. The whole world is watching him. Therefore, it is necessary to get enough time for this case. We have informed the Chief Justice about the decision to recuse ourselves from the case. They will now decide on it. If need be, a commission will also be set up for this. A trainee doctor was raped and murdered at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the intervening night of August 8-9 last year. The doctor's body was found in the seminar hall on the morning of August 9. After the hearing, the victim's mother Ratna Debnath said, "I have met the Chief Justice. I will now speak to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on the matter," he said. He defeated TMC's Tirthankar Ghosh by a huge margin of 28,826 votes. The body of the doctor was found in the seminar hall in August morning. On the basis of CCTV footage, the police arrested a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy. The court convicted Sanjay on January 18, 2025. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on January 20, 2025. The CBI and the victim's family had demanded the death penalty. The incident sparked outrage across the country, including Kolkata. Medical services were suspended in Bengal for more than 2 months.