The Supreme Court on Sunday, August 19, 2024, took suo motu cognisance of the brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor 
R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, will hear the case on Tuesday, August 20, 2024.
The body of the doctor was allegedly found in the hospital’s seminar room on August 9, and post-mortem and inquest reports revealed horrifying details of extensive injuries. The incident prompted widespread protests and agitation in Kolkata as well as the entire country.
On August 13, a Calcutta High Court order transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Kolkata Police. The police had arrested a civic volunteer in the case. The High Court expressed “surprise” at why the hospital authorities, including the principal, had not lodged a complaint. It also acknowledged the apprehensions of the victim’s parents that evidence may likely be destroyed.
When the details of the case first surfaced, the parents of the victim were allegedly told that their daughter had died by suicide in the hospital.
On August 14, a mob vandalised the protest site and parts of the R.G. Kar Hospital, leading to nationwide agitations by doctors.
The Indian Medical Association, the largest national group representing doctors, ended its 24-hour strike on Sunday morning and said that it had formed a committee to present a “safety document” to the Union Health Ministry. The Health Ministry on Saturday had appealed to the agitating doctors to resume their duties in the larger public interest and in view of the rising cases of dengue and malaria.
The Crime in India report published by the National Crime Records Bureau last year showed a total of 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were registered across India in 2022, almost 51 FIRs every hour, up from 4,28,278 in 2021 and 3,71,503 in 2020. Most crimes against women under the Indian Penal Code were of cruelty by husband or his relatives (31.4%) followed by kidnapping and abduction of women (19.2%), assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (18.7%), and rape (7.1%), the report said.