New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday heard the case of rape and murder of a female doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital. During this, the court reprimanded the Kolkata Police for the delay in registering the case and called it extremely disturbing.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared in the court on behalf of the CBI and senior advocate Kapil Sibal was representing the Bengal government. During the hearing, the Supreme Court also made an emotional appeal to the doctors protesting across the country and asked them to return to work soon. The court said that justice and medicine cannot be stopped.

What happened in the hearing?

The court told the doctors that it is issuing all necessary directions to ensure their safety. The court directed not to take any punitive action against them.

The apex court also reprimanded the Kolkata Police. The three-judge bench highlighted the flaws in its investigation. Meanwhile, CBI lawyer Tushar Mehta said that an attempt was made to cover up the case. He said that by the time the CBI took over the investigation, the crime scene was changed by the local police.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud also asked political parties not to politicise the issue and said the law will take its course. The apex court pulled up the Kolkata police over the unexplained delay in filing the FIR. It said the post-mortem was conducted on August 9 at 6.10 pm and yet the report of unnatural death was sent to the Tala police station at 11.30 pm on August 9. This is extremely disturbing.

The apex court also questioned the West Bengal government on the role of Dr. Sandeep Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who has come under investigation after the incident. The court said that the college principal should have come directly to the college and directed for an FIR. The bench asked Kapil Sibal who Sandeep was in contact with?

Questioning the role of Bengal Police, Tushar Mehta said that CBI started the investigation on the fifth day. Whatever the local police had collected before this was given to us. The investigation was a challenge in itself because the crime scene was changed. He said that the FIR was registered at 11:45 pm only after the cremation of the victim.

Tushar Mehta said that first the victim's parents were informed that she was not well. When they reached the hospital, they were told that she had committed suicide. Fortunately, her colleagues insisted on videography. This shows that they suspected a cover-up.

Sibal opposed Mehta's arguments, saying everything was videographed and claimed nothing was altered at the crime scene. He argued that the Kolkata police followed procedure faithfully and the CBI's status report only attempts to malign the case.

Sibal said the CBI should tell the court what progress it has made in the case in the last one week. Later, the bench issued several directions on safety of doctors, norms of protests, rights of protesters as well as on the West Bengal government.

The court said the National Task Force (NTF) constituted by the apex court will take into account suggestions from all stakeholders, including associations representing resident doctors, while framing a national protocol for the protection of doctors.

"We direct the Secretary, Union Health Ministry to engage with the Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of states to ensure safety of healthcare professionals," the bench said while directing the matter to be completed within a week.

The court also directed the Kolkata Police officer to appear in the next hearing on September 5 and disclose the time of entry. The bench also said that peaceful protests over the Kolkata incident will not be disturbed or disrupted by the West Bengal government. However, the court clarified that it has not stopped the state government from exercising such legal powers.