Supreme Court Orders Wikipedia To Take Down RG Kar Rape-Murder Victim's Photos, Urges Protesting Doctors To Return To Work

A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud continued hearing the suo motu case over the RG Kar hospital rape-murder on Tuesday (17 September) giving certain directives to Wikipedia.

The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta brought to the court's notice that despite the order, the name and photo of the 31-year-old victim were still on Wikipedia and it denied to remove it by calling it censoring.

Directing Wikipedia to take it down, the CJI said, "The governing principle is that the identity of the victim in rape and murder shall not be disclosed. Wikipedia shall therefore comply with the previous order passed."

The bench also discussed the discrepancy between the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Kolkata Police over the CCTV footage of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital during the hours when the crime happened.

The CBI alleged that only 27 minutes of CCTV footage was handed over, while Kapil Sibal, representing the State of West Bengal claimed that seven to eight hours of CCTV footage were handed over.

Sibal then raised the issue of junior doctors not reporting back to work despite the Supreme Court order last week. On this, the CJI questioned the steps taken by the West Bengal government to ensure their safety.

"We are in a situation where there is a lack of security for medical doctors, the state should have at least police in the government hospitals. There are young interns and students, staying out of home to work in Kolkata," the CJI said.

"In RG Kar, you said 415 CCTV cameras will be installed, but only 37 have been installed. In areas where women rest at night in RG Kar, why cannot they have biometric access?" the CJI continued.

On punitive action against protesting doctors, the CJI said, "We are not modifying our last order, we have created the conditions for coming back to work, let them do what they have to do to implement the orders."

In the last order, the court had directed the protesting doctors to return to work assuring them that no adverse will be taken if they report in time. However, it did not guarantee any such protection beyond that time.