The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stop livestreaming of a case related to the brutal rape and murder of a post-graduate trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra rejected the request made by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal on the grounds that it was a matter of great public importance and the public must know what transpired in the courtroom.
Sibal apprised the Apex Court that lawyers in his chambers were receiving threats of rape and physical harm for representing the State of West Bengal in the case. It is being said that acid would be thrown at them, he added.
The Bench assured that if anyone received such threat, the Apex Court would step in to protect them.
The Senior Counsel representing the West Bengal government further argued there were some posts about him laughing in the court. He said the reputation built by lawyers over 50 years was being destroyed overnight. Sibal mentioned the Swapnil Tripathi case, wherein the top court of the country held that such emotive cases should not be livestreamed.
However, the Bench refused to accept his request.
During the proceedings, the Bench observed that as per the status report of CBI, disclosing the investigation would jeopardise the line of investigation. The national agency was unearthing the absolute truth. Apart from the Principal of the Medical College, the SHO has also been arrested in the case, it pointed out.
Perusing the status report, the Apex Court said the CBI has replied to issues such as whether challan in statutory form was submitted for postmortem, whether there was a likelihood of the crime of scene being tampered with, the complicity of any other person, the evidence being destroyed, etc. It said it would be unwise on the part of the Court to disclose anything further.
Appearing for the national agency, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the disclosure may not help the accused eventually. Whatever may happen, the benefit must not go to the accused, he added.
Appearing for the junior doctors, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising apprised the Bench that they had names of persons who were present on the scene of the crime and had no business to be there. The names can be submitted to the CBI in sealed cover, she said, adding that they were not making the names public in the light of concerns aired by the court.
The Bench noted that the father of the deceased had made some suggestions on the leads that should be taken for investigation. Stating that they were not making it public, the Court directed the CBI to look into these valuable inputs.
Advocate Vrinda Grover contended that the parents of the victim had accompanied the CBI to carry out the investigation. Amidst a lot of information swirling around, they did not know what to believe, she added.
The SG accepted the suggestion to inform the parents of the victim, stating that this was the minimum an investigating agency could do for the girl who was raped and killed.
The SG then said that the photograph and name of the girl was still there in Wikipedia.
Senior Advocate Guruswamy said that Wikipedia has refused to be censored.
The Bench, noting that it was mandated by the law, assured to mention the same in its order.
One of the lawyers mentioned that Kolkata police gave 27 minutes of footage. It asked whether they used an instrument to block a device so that the hash value did not change. He further asked why the jeans and other clothes of the victim were not sent for post mortem.
The lawyer said it has to be seen whether footage has been overwritten or not. The camera was also not placed at the entry of seminar room. Comeone could have gone from the other side. The dead body challan was shown to the High Court.
The Bench asked the CBI whether it can summon the Kolkata Police and get the footage. The agency should see whether hash value changed or not. The investigating officer of CBI has to ensure this, it added.
The Apex Court was hearing a suo motu case regarding the rape and murder of a 31-year-old resident doctor, who was found dead at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal.
The doctor was found dead at a seminar hall of the college on August 9. An autopsy confirmed that she was raped and murdered.