Calcutta High Court directs DoPT to be party in case of former Kolkata CP disclosing RG Kar victim’s identity

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the Union government's Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to become a party in a case accusing former Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal of revealing the identity of the junior doctor of Kolkata's R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital, who became a victim of ghastly rape and murder in August.

A division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Bivas Pattanayak also sought an affidavit from DoPT, which is the cadre controlling authority of all Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, seeking an explanation on the nature of action that can be taken against any all-India service officer for breaching the law.

The division bench has also sought responses in the matter from the former Commissioner Goyal and the West Bengal government as well. It has directed all the parties concerned to file their response in the matter by November 13.

The next hearing of the matter has been scheduled for November 14.

The petition was filed by Anita Pandey, who is herself a legal professional. In the petition, she had made a plea for an FIR to be registered against the former city Police Commissioner in the matter.

Goyal, currently the Additional Director General (ADG) of the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police, came under scathing criticism since the beginning of the matter over the alleged lackadaisical initial probe by the city police when he was at the helm of affairs. The junior doctors, since the beginning of their protests, demanded his removal from the post. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee finally accepted the demand of the junior doctors and Goyal was replaced by Manoj Kumar Verma.

Earlier to that the charge of the investigation in the rape and murder case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from Kolkata Police. Both the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court in the past had made strong observations over the revelation of the identity of the victim.