The fresh focus on the role of police following today’s hearing of the Kolkata hospital rape-murder case in Supreme Court has escalated the BJP demand for the dismissal of the city’s police chief Vineet Goyal. Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee has played for time. The police chief, she said, cannot step down immediately in view of the coming Durga Puja, which calls for special stress on law and order. 

“Kolkata Police Commissioner has come to me several times last week and offered to resign,” Ms Banerjee said.  “We have pujo coming up. Someone who is aware of law and order has to be there. If you have patience for a few days, will it be a Mahabharat (big deal)?” she added.

Following the arrest of Sandip Ghose, the former Principal of RG Kar Medical College, the next big demand of the protesters has been the resignation of the police chief. The Opposition parties have thrown their weight behind it. 

The role of the police in the investigation of the young doctor’s rape-murder has raised multiple questions. The woman’s parents have claimed they cremated their daughter’s body under pressure from the police and alleged that a police officer had offered them money to bury the incident. 

There have been complaints about videography and questions why the body’s postmortem was done at RG Kar hospital, which created a conflict of interest of sorts.

The 14-hour delay in filing of the First Information Report has been flagged multiple times, including by the judges of the Supreme Court.

Today, the top court said a key document connected to the postmortem appeared to be missing. 

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud questioned where a certain challan was, that showed what articles of clothing and personal use was submitted for forensic examination. Without that challan, a postmortem cannot be carried out either, he said.

“See the third column on the top, the constable (who brought the body) is supposed to carry this (form). It has been struck off. So there is no reference of this challan when the dead body is sent for examination. You need to explain. If this document is missing, then something is amiss,” said Justice JB Pardiwala, who was part of the three-judge bench.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was representing the state, could not immediately locate it and has sought more time.  

The Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI has said “who collected the samples” for forensics has emerged as a crucial question.