The Calcutta High Court has ordered Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former head of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital – where a doctor was raped and murdered last week – to go on long leave.
Dr Ghosh – under scrutiny for comments seen as victim-blaming and failing to ensure staff safety – resigned Monday, declaring “the girl who died was like my daughter… as a parent, I am resigning”, but was re-appointed as Principal of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital 24 hours later.
The court, which also asked tough questions of the state’s handling of this horrific crime, including keeping the doctor’s parents waiting for information and even protecting Dr Ghosh, observed that the tragic circumstances of the young woman’s death did not seem to have much affected him.
“The Principal is the guardian of all doctors working there… if he doesn’t show any empathy who will show? He should be at home not working anywhere…” a division bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam said, also wondering how it happens that a government lawyer is arguing for Dr Ghosh.
“… this Principal will not function… let him go on long leave. Otherwise we pass an order,” the court said when told Dr Ghosh quit and was posted to a second institution in almost the same breath.
“No man is above the law…” the court thundered, “How did he step down and then be rewarded with another responsibility?” The court, which demanded the police’s case diary by 2 pm, also directed Dr Ghosh’s resignation letter be filed, observing, “… we want to see what he has written.”
“…why do you protect (him)? Let him tell the truth… something is missing here,” the court said at the end of a brief but intense hearing that included questions of the state government and the cops.
The High Court this morning was hearing a clutch of petitions, including one by the doctor’s parents seeking a court-monitored probe into their daughter’s brutal death.
