West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari Orders Fresh Investigation Into 2024 RG Kar Medical College And Hospital Rape-murder Case

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari ordered a fresh investigation into the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, marking the second anniversary of a crime that had once brought the entire state to a standstill. The announcement came at a memorial event attended by the victim's family, doctors, and senior officials, and it reopens a case many believed had been settled with a conviction and life sentence.

Adhikari said the decision to reinvestigate was taken after the victim's mother, Ratna Debnath, now a BJP MLA, wrote to him seeking a fresh probe. "Ratna Debnath had written to me, requesting a fresh investigation. After extensive discussions with the chief secretary and a team of experts, I am announcing a fresh investigation under the Special Commission Act, 1952," he said. The Chief Minister did not mince words about the earlier investigation either, alleging that the police had failed to perform their duty in the case.

Along with the fresh probe, Adhikari ordered a separate inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the victim's cremation, which has long been a point of contention among activists who allege it was conducted in unseemly haste. He directed that immediate action be taken against anyone found responsible for lapses.

The day carried a heavier, quieter weight across the state. A two-minute silence was observed at government hospitals throughout West Bengal, with doctors, nurses, and paramilitary personnel stationed at RG Kar pausing together in memory of the young doctor. The West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front, whose protests in 2024 had drawn nationwide attention and reshaped conversations around hospital safety, chose to mark the day differently. In north Kolkata's Chitpur, its members ran a free medical clinic for underprivileged residents. "We are holding the clinic seeking justice for the on-duty doctor who was raped and murdered," said one of the participating doctors, framing service as its own form of remembrance.

Later, the Front led a memorial march from College Street to Esplanade, a route that has become familiar since the protests first began, calling once again for the arrest and trial of anyone who may have been involved in the crime, directly or indirectly, beyond the person already convicted.

The state government's response has not been limited to the police probe. A day before Adhikari's announcement, Health Minister Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay revealed that his department would conduct its own separate investigation, one that will summon everyone who was present at the hospital on the night of the incident, along with the victim's teachers and professors. Asked how far the inquiry might reach, Mukhopadhyay left little ambiguity. "If, in the course of investigation, the department thinks former health minister should be summoned, that decision also will be implemented," he said, a remark widely read as a reference to Mamata Banerjee. The health department's inquiry will also scrutinise what security and administrative gaps existed at RG Kar on the night of the crime, and whether those gaps have genuinely been fixed since.

Not everyone is convinced that fresh orders will translate into fresh answers. Asfaqullah Naiya of the Abhaya Mancha, the collective that spearheaded protests after the killing, welcomed the state's silence but warned against a quieter kind of silence. "The state government is observing silence; we are welcoming that. But if the investigation of the RG Kar rape and murder case is also silenced, then it will not be accepted. Till date, we don't know exactly what happened on that night. We want proper justice," he said.

Two years on, the case remains a measure of how the state treats crimes against its frontline workers. Whether this fresh investigation delivers clarity or simply reopens old wounds without new answers will depend on what the coming months uncover, and on whether promises made on an anniversary translate into action once the memorials end and the news cycle moves on.

Inputs from Indian Express