Members of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) have strongly objected to the resolution signed by SCBA President Kapil Sibal on the association’s letterhead on August 21 regarding the rape and murder of a Post-Graduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
In a letter to Sibal (see below), the Executive Committee members said they were not party to any deliberation on the said matter as the resolution was never placed before them.
They said they were surprised by the resolution, which seemed to be Sibal’s personal views that were being trotted out off as a resolution of the entire Executive Committee.
The EC members, led by Advocate Vikas Bansal, said an unanimous resolution should have been passed on the issue after taking all EC members into confidence.
The letter said that the SCBA strongly condemned the incident which took place in the premises of the government medical college and hospital in Kolkata. The EC members said they were standing in solidarity with the victims, the family, and the doctors demanding justice. They demanded the authorities to take prompt action against all those responsible for the crime.
The letter concluded by saying SCBA has always had and would continue to stand by any and all members of the society whose fundamental rights have either been violated or trampled upon by any action or inaction in any manner.
The EC members who signed the letter to Sibal include Joint Secretary Sandeep Singh, Joint Treasurer Susheel Kumar Tomar, Treasurer Sasmita Tripathy, and Senior Advocates Pravin H Parekh and Shobha Gupta (senior EC members). EC members Vikas Bansal, Ashish Kumar Sinha, Shashank Shekhar, Yogmaya MG, Anil C Nishani and Rachana Gandhi were also signatories.
At the end of the letter, three members said their consent was taken over WhatsApp. This is all the more surprising since a majority of the EC members were not even consulted, let alone asked to submit their views before passing a resolution.
On August 21, a SCBA resolution, signed by Sibal as the SCBA President, appreciated the concern expressed by Chief Justice of India Justice DY Chandrachud at the malaise prevailing in the country and the wanton violence against women in hospitals, including female interns.
Calling the incident at RG Kar Medical College ‘symptomatic’ of the ‘malaise,’ it expressed hope that such incidents that have taken place throughout the country, were not repeated in future.
The resolution further said that since the probe in the Kolkata doctor rape-murder case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the SCBA believed that justice would be done and the accused would be appropriately punished.
Earlier on Thursday, while hearing the suo motu criminal writ petition concerning the death of the trainee doctor in Kolkata on August 9, 2024, the Supreme Court expressed concern over the West Bengal Police’s handling of the matter. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta criticised Kapil Sibal for allegedly laughing while discussing the crime.
Ahead of the SCBA elections in May this year, speakers at a debate had warned of how Sibal could make use of his standing as an SCBA office-bearer in support of his political views and thus bring unwarranted attention to the august body. Like it indeed happened in this case.