The Sealdah court’s criticism of police officers in the R.G. Kar hospital rape and murder case has given fresh ammunition to the BJP to mount an attack on chief minister Mamata Banerjee and demand her resignation.

In his order on Monday, Sealdah sessions judge Anirban Das pulled up officers of Tala police station, including sub-inspector Subrata Chatterjee, assistant sub-inspector Anup Dutta and additional officer-in-charge of the women’s grievance cell, Rupali Mukherjee. They were accused of negligence and involvement in illegal activities during the investigation.

“The evidence of PW-24 ( SI Subrata Chatterjee) specifically shows that he had done an illegal act by making entry in the GD book under GD No. 542 dated 09.08.2024 by mentioning the time as 10.10 am though he was not present at the PS at that time,” Das in his order mentioned.

“It is also shocking that the concerned SI did not hesitate to say such illegal acts standing in the witness box. I did not expect such type of evidence from an officer in the rank of SI of police,” the order said, highlighting that Chatterjee claimed he was instructed to make this entry but he failed to identify who had given him such instructions.

The court reprimanded Dutta for granting convict Sanjay Roy undue freedom and allowing him to lead a life inconsistent with that of a disciplined force member. The order criticises Mukherjee for taking the accused’s mobile phone on August 9 last year and leaving it unattended at Tala police station. This act of Mukherjee has raised questions given her seniority and presumed ability to handle such cases, said the court.

Writing on his X handle, BJP’s Bengal co-minder Amit Malviya said: “This is exactly what Mamata Banerjee wanted — destroy evidence, set up someone pliable to take the blame, and protect influential individuals, linked to the TMC, who were responsible for this gruesome crime.”

Echoing Malviya, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar sought Mamata’s resignation.

“The court has used words like ‘illegal’ and ‘surprised’ against Kolkata police that is headed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee who is also the home minister. This shows there were serious lapses on the part of the hospital authorities and the police. The chief minister should take the responsibility, apologise publicly and resign,”
Majumdar said.

The court also expressed serious concerns about the activities of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital authorities after the rape and murder of the junior doctor came
to light.

“There is no doubt to consider that from the end of any authority, efforts were made to show the death as a suicidal one so that the hospital authority would not face any consequences,” the order said.

Accusing the then R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital principal, Sandip Ghosh, and the MSVP, Sanjay Basisth, the order said: “The said act of the administrative head of the concerned hospital creates a shadow of doubt about the fact and it seems that they wanted to suppress anything and that there was dereliction of duty on their part.”