The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an application seeking directions for removal of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from office in light of the brutal rape and murder of an on-duty trainee doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra warned the lawyer against using the court as a political forum and remarked that he will be removed from the court if he continued to press the plea.
"This is not a political forum alright. You are a member of the Bar. We do not require your affirmation to what we say. What you say has to abide by rules of legal discipline. We are not here to see what you feel about a political functionary. Your interim application is not our remit," CJI Chandrachud said to the counsel appearing in the plea.
However, the counsel continued to press his arguments. Then the CJI had to again warn the lawyer that he will be removed from the court. "Look, I am sorry, else I will have you removed from this court," CJI Chandrachud remarked.
The top court today took a strong exception to the plea and refused to hear the lawyer.
The apex court today resumed hearing the suo motu case in RG Kar rape and murder matter. The court today went through the CBI status report, letter submitted by the victim's father and affidavits submitted by the West Bengal government.
The court directed the CBI to take note of all the valuable insights provided by the father of the victim. It also expressed concerns regarding the slow pace at which security measures were being implemented in the medical colleges and hospitals in West Bengal.
The court directed that a consultative process should be followed for upgrading the infrastructure and safety measures and principals from the concerned colleges/ hospitals should be included in the process.
The court also pulled up the Bengal government over the new rules that restricted women from working on night shifts and the Raatirer Shaathi programme. The Supreme Court expressed reservation on West Bengal government's decision of having contractual workers under the Raatirer Shaathi programe to be trained and deployed for security and said the main accused in the RG Kar rape and murder case Sanjoy Roy was also such a worker.
Ultimately, the Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the West Bengal government agreed to roll back these measures.