Kolkata rape and murder case: Home Ministry seeks bi-hourly updates from states/UTs | Latest India News

New Delhi: India's Home Ministry has asked police departments of all states and union territories to submit law and order reports to it every two hours following protests by doctors, nurses and others against the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

In a fax to all police chiefs, the Ministry of Interior stated that in view of the protests, public order in all states must be monitored.

“The competent authority wishes to monitor the public order situation in your state in view of the murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. With immediate effect, you may send a rolling report of the public order situation in this connection to the Home Ministry Control Room (New Delhi) by fax, email or WhatsApp every two hours from 4:00 pm today,” the Home Ministry said in the fax message sent on Friday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also provided the state police with the fax and WhatsApp numbers and the email ID to which the two-hourly situation report can be sent.

Officials familiar with the development said it was nothing new for the Home Ministry to seek reports on the law and order situation from state and union territory governments.

On August 9, a trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The next day, a Kolkata Police volunteer was arrested in connection with the crime.

A 25-member special team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently investigating the case and has questioned, among others, the main accused Sanjay Roy and the principal of the college, Dr. Sandip Ghosh.

As HT reported on Sunday, the federal agency plans to conduct a lie detector test on Roy and has already sent a team from the Central Forensics Science Laboratory (CFSL) to conduct a psychoanalytic test on him.

Doctors and other medical staff are protesting in different parts of the country, affecting the functioning of health facilities. They are pushing for a central law to curb violence against medical staff and demanding that hospitals be declared containment zones with mandatory security.