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Synopsis

Several members of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Thursday wrote a letter to Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, President SCBA expressing their surprise over a resolution dated August 21, issued on the letterhead of SCBA and signed on behalf of the entire committee.

The letter has followed a resolution issued on Wednesday by the SCBA President which appreciated the concerns raised by CJI's bench over the prevailing malaise due to the recent rape and murder of a female doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

''The SCBA endorses the historic step taken by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India to address these concerns, especially steps taken to put in place a policy framework along with protocols to prevent the recurrence of such brutal incidents'' the resolution dated 21st August read.

In a letter addressed to Sibal, the members have denied being privy to any deliberation of the EC on the said matter which culminated into any such Resolution. We have further spoken to some of the other EC members and they are equally surprised by the Resolution., it adds.

The members, in the letter addressed to Sibal, claimed that the resolution was not even placed before the Executive Committee and appears to be a personal view passed off as a resolution of the entire committee.

It has been added that a unanimous resolution should have been passed after taking all members of the committee in confidence. ''We the undersigned, therefore wish to put it on this record that we are not a party to a resolution passed by your good self unilaterally on behalf of the entire Executive'' the letter read.

However, the members have strongly condemned the horrific rape and murder at the RG Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata and expressed their solidarity with the doctor's demanding justice.

Supreme Court Bar Association will always stand with individuals whose fundamental rights are violated or trampled upon, the letter further adds.

Notably, senior counsel Sibal is currently appearing for the West Bengal government in a suo moto case registered by the Supreme Court of India concerning the horrific rape and murder of a postgraduate female doctor.

While hearing this case, apex court recently pulled up the Kolkata police over its registration of an unnatural death case Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also remarked that a girl had lost her life in the most inhuman and undignified manner and criticized Sibal for laughing while addressing the horrific crime before the bench.

Top court has also directed the formation of a National Task Force (NTF), to address the systematic issues regarding the lack of safety for medical professionals.

On August 9, the postgraduate female doctor was found dead in a seminar hall at the hospital while she was on a 36-hour duty shift. Initially, the parents were informed that the death was a suicide. It was later alleged that there was a significant delay of several hours in registering the First Information Report (FIR).

Protests erupted following the incident and on August 14th, a large mob assembled at the premises of the RG Kar Medical College Hospital and vandalised the emergency ward and other departments of the hospital.