Supreme Court Image Credit Source: Sonu Mehta/HT via Getty Images
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that women cannot be stopped from working at night. The Supreme Court has made this comment while questioning the notification of the West Bengal government, which has banned women doctors and employees from night shift and working beyond 12 hours. After the Supreme Court’s stern stance, the state government said it would amend its notification. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra said that instead of enhancing the safety of women, the state government cannot say that women doctors and staff should not work at night.
Chief Justice Chandrachud said that asked the West Bengal government how you can say that women cannot work at night? Why are such restrictions imposed on women doctors and staff? He said that women are not demanding any kind of concession, they (women) are ready to work under any circumstances at all times i.e. day or night. The bench made this remark when senior advocate Kapil, appearing for the West Bengal government, informed about the notification issued by the state government. He said that the state government has issued a notification under which women will not be asked to do night shift or work for more than 12 hours. On this, Chief Justice Chandrachud told senior advocate Kapil Sibal that you have to think again.
‘Give protection instead of sanctions’
He said that instead of banning women from working at night, give them protection. You have to provide security. The Chief Justice said that it is the state government’s responsibility to provide security to women doctors and staff. Also said that the West Bengal government should revise its notification. The Chief Justice said that the state government cannot say that women cannot work at night.
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He said women work at night in many departments including pilots, army, police etc. Along with this, the bench said that in the case of Anuj Garg, the Supreme Court had quashed the decision of the Punjab government, in which women were banned from working in liquor shops. The bench said that in the Anuj Garg case it was decided that freedom of women cannot be curtailed in the name of security. Chief Justice Chandrachud said that as far as limiting the working hours of women doctors to 12 hours, the duty hours should be suitable for all doctors (male and female). He said it would be unfair to target female doctors as compared to male doctors.
The state government will reconsider the notification- Sibal
However, senior advocate Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, told the bench that the state government would reconsider the notification. He also said that this is temporary and is part of the security measures taken recently. The Supreme Court is hearing a suo moto case initiated in the wake of the doctors’ strike across the country following the rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. The Supreme Court has constituted a National Task Force to ensure the safety of doctors across the country.
The revelations in the CBI report are alarming – SC
The Supreme Court has said that the CBI report investigating the murder of a trainee woman doctor after rape at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has come up with some disturbing facts. The Supreme Court made this comment after seeing the investigation report of the case submitted by the CBI in a sealed cover.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra, however, refused to reveal the facts of the status report submitted by the CBI, saying it could affect the investigation. Commenting on this, the bench refused to fix a time limit for the inquiry. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the CBI is not sleeping but is investigating the case. CBI should be given enough time to find out the truth. He said that since the case has 90 days to file a chargesheet and there is still time left, it is not appropriate to set a time limit for the investigation. He made these remarks after considering the status report presented by CBI DIG Satyaveer Singh.
Disclosure of facts will affect investigation process – SC
The Supreme Court said that since the CBI is investigating the case, making any of its facts public would affect the investigation process. The bench said that the approach adopted by the CBI to investigate the case is to uncover the truth, the in-charge of the concerned police station has been arrested in the case and the questions raised by us (the court) have also been raised by the investigation. The agency has responded in its report. The bench said the CBI is also looking into the aspect whether the challan was issued in statutory form along with the postmortem. It is also being investigated whether the crime scene was tampered with. There is complicity of others in destruction of evidence and delay in reporting the crime.
Earlier, advocate Feroze Edulji, appearing for the person who filed a petition seeking a CBI probe into the case in the Kolkata High Court, once again raised the issue of discrepancies in the seizure list and sketch map before the bench. He said that while sending the body for post-mortem, the clothes of the victim were not sent which indicated a serious discrepancy. The Chief Justice then said that whatever the CBI report has said is worse, it is really disturbing. What you are saying is extremely worrying, we are worried ourselves. He said that we have read the CBI report and after seeing it we ourselves are disturbed.
7 to 8 hours of footage has been given to CBI-West Bengal Government
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, told the Supreme Court that the entire CCTV footage of 7 to 8 hours has been handed over to the CBI. Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said that the CBI had not received the complete footage. The bench then asked Solicitor General Mehta whether the CBI officials could call the Kolkata police and take the footage. You have to check if the hash value has changed or not. CBI will have to confirm it. Your investigating officer will have to confirm it. Make sure CBI seizes entire DVR and footage, we hope CBI will do so. The state government said that the police have given the complete footage. A total of 32 GB of footage has been provided.
The CBI-SC should consider the concerns raised by the deceased’s father.
The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to look into some of the concerns raised by the deceased doctor’s father. The bench said that the father of the deceased has raised some concerns, including some specific information regarding the investigation. The bench upheld the concerns of the father of the deceased and asked the CBI to give due attention to them. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the Supreme Court that the concerns raised by the deceased’s father would be considered.
He said the CBI is already looking into many of the concerns raised in it. It has also assured that the CBI will maintain contact with the parents of the deceased and keep them informed. Meanwhile, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the Junior Doctors Association, told the apex court that she has information indicating the presence of other people at the crime scene. He agreed to give information about this to the CBI in a sealed envelope to Solicitor General Mehta.
Scold the petitioner for demanding CM Mamata’s resignation
The Supreme Court expressed strong displeasure over the petition seeking the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and sidelined the petitioner’s lawyer. The Supreme Court said that this is not a political forum.
Doctors instructed to return to work
The Supreme Court has asked West Bengal doctors to return to work immediately. The apex court told the doctors that no adverse action would be taken against them if they returned to work by 5 pm on Wednesday. Even during the last hearing, the bench directed the doctors to return to work. Even after this the doctors did not return to work.
Refusal to stop live broadcast of hearing
The Supreme Court rejected a plea by senior advocate Kapil Sibal on behalf of the West Bengal government to ban the live telecast of the hearing of the case. Sibal said that his image is being tarnished by this. He said the reputation he had built up over a 50-year career was being tarnished. He said that it is being represented that I am saving the criminal and not the state government. The Chief Justice said that lawyers will be protected from online threats. Along with this, the Supreme Court has directed to remove the name of the deceased doctor from Wikipedia.
