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The Supreme Court has expressed anguish and shock at the manner in which the case concerning the brutal rape and murder was handled by the West Bengal State machinery.

“The post mortem preceded the registration of an unnatural death case and FIR. I have never in 30 years seen a case being handled like this,” Justice JB Pardiwala said, while expressing deep concern and questioning Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal representing the State Government of West Bengal.

The senior counsel however denied the same, stating that the timeline he has should be looked at instead of the CBI status report.

To this, the bench pointed out that the record speaks for itself. “This is dangerous!” The bench said.

According to the bench reviewing the status report, the unnatural death case was registered at 11.30 pm at night, while the death was reported at 10.10 am. Further, the post mortem and autopsy of the young doctor victim was conducted hours prior to the registration of FIR for an unnatural death at 11.45 pm. The bench said that the record was clear about this and the state has many answers to give.

The court is currently hearing its suo motu case concerning the rape and death of the young doctor on August 9. On the last hearing, the court had sought a CBI report on the case.

It is to be noted that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun investigating the alleged rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor at R G Kar Medical College in Kolkata, following the Calcutta High Court's decision to transfer the case to CBI due to the lack of progress in the state police's investigation and suspicion of evidence tampering.

The victim was found dead in a seminar hall at the hospital last Friday. The CBI has registered an FIR, building on the initial police report, which includes charges of rape and murder.

High Court's division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya strongly criticized the hospital administration, particularly the Principal, for failing to promptly lodge a complaint, which it deemed a dereliction of duty.

Court also questioned the Principal's resignation claiming "moral responsibility" and subsequent appointment to another medical college within hours.