Calcutta HC: PIL seeking registration of FIR against Vineet Goyal to be heard on October 7

Former Commissioner of Kolkata Police Vineet Kumar Goyal.
| Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri

The Calcutta High Court on Friday (October 4, 2024) said that a PIL seeking registration of an FIR against former Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal for allegedly revealing the name of the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder victim will be heard by it on Monday (October 7, 2024).

Mr. Goyal, who was the Commissioner of Kolkata Police when the gruesome incident took place on August 9, is now posted as Additional Director General (ADG) of the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police.

A petition was moved before the high court claiming that Mr. Goyal had revealed the name of the rape-murder victim in violation of settled guidelines.

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Moving the PIL before the court, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani said that the petitioner, a lawyer practising at the Calcutta High Court, sought registration of an FIR against the alleged offender for revealing the victim’s identity.

Mr. Jethmalani informed the division bench, presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam, that the Supreme Court, which is hearing the R G Kar hospital matter suo motu, has clarified that this issue can be heard by this high court.

The Bench, also comprising Justice Bivas Pattanayak, said that this PIL will appear in its list for Monday’s hearings.

The Supreme Court, as well as this high court, had passed directions against revealing the identity of the post-graduate trainee at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, whose body was found in the institution’s seminar hall on August 9.

Junior doctors in the state had gone on a ‘cease work’ immediately after the incident over several demands, including justice for the victim, security at their workplaces and removal of Mr. Goyal from the post of Commissioner of Kolkata Police.

The high court handed over the investigation into the case from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after hearing a number of PILs on the matter, including one by the parents of the victim, who sought an impartial probe on the death of their daughter.