Kolkata Doctor R*pe Case | What We Know Till Now

The Heinous Incident at RG Kar Medical College

There's been such a heinous incident in the country that you'll get goosebumps. Millions of brothers in our country will tie Rakhi to protect their sisters. To protect them from whom? From our own society. The incident in Kolkata has shown how our society is failing women. Where the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should have stopped such incidents, she instead is holding a protest march in her state. And instead of protecting the people, the Kolkata police is sending notices on Twitter. What's going on in this country? What happened in this incident? And who's responsible? I want to give you all the details. RG Kar Medical College is based in the Shyambazar locality of North Kolkata. It was founded in 1886 and is one of the oldest medical colleges in the country. And an incident happened in this old hospital that shook the entire country. At 8th August, 11 AM, a 31-year-old post-graduate trainee was on a 36-hour shift. Post-graduate trainees are basically medical doctors who are doing a master's degree in specialization. And these trainees' 24 hours, 36 hours, and 72 hour shifts are very common. During these shifts, they have to be on call. This means they can rest, but they have to come back to work as soon as a call rings. She spoke to her parents at night and said goodnight on the phone. After this, she started doing her medical rounds in the hospital. This was very common for her. At 2 AM, she took a break from her medical rounds and had dinner with four colleagues. One was an intern, one was a house staffer, and two were post-graduate trainees.

Discovery of the Victim and Initial Hospital Response

In the third floor seminar hall of the college's Pulmonology department, she ordered food and started watching the Olympics on TV. She was supporting Neeraj Chopra. She was supporting Neeraj and he won a silver medal that day. The seminar room is a 40 by 30 feet room where 50 people can sit. To enter the seminar room, you have to pass a corridor from the third floor lift where CCTV cameras are installed. But there were no cameras installed in the seminar room. As soon as Neeraj Chopra's event was over, everyone else left the seminar room. But because of fatigue, this girl slept there as she had a 36-hour shift. At 3 AM, an intern wakes her up to show her a report. But after seeing the report, she goes back to sleep. This was the last time she was seen alive. The next day, at 7. 30 AM, a 31-year-old post-graduate trainee's body was found in the same hall with 10 injury marks. Her body was semi-naked and blood was oozing from her eyes and private parts. At 10. 53 AM, the hospital's assistant superintendent calls the girl's parents and tells them to come to the hospital as her daughter was unwell. After 22 minutes, at 11. 15 AM, the same person calls the parents again and tells them that their daughter had committed sde. "After that, they said, your daughter has committed sde. " "Come quickly. " A family member of the victim told that the hospital made the girl's parents wait for 3 hours before showing the body. "They kept us standing there for 3 hours. " And even when they gave them permission, the father was told to go inside and take a photo and then come out. When the father saw the condition of his daughter, he was devastated. He said, my daughter has been rd and m**ed. She's gone. We can't bring her back. But at least, we should get justice.

Police Investigation Begins and Initial Suspects

After the incident, the police commissioner of Kolkata, Vineet Goyal and state health secretary, NS Nigam, reached the hospital for an investigation. It's also revealed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has spoken to the family and promised them speedy justice. But now the protests have begun. Many doctors and post-graduate trainees of the hospital started protests and demanded an autopsy. After this, protests started all over the country. On the morning of August 9, the first police officers reached the crime scene. Because their duty is in the outpost of the hospital, they can reach there quickly. They immediately inform the Tala police station, in whose jurisdiction the hospital is located. A team of officers arrives at the police station, including detectives from the Homicidal Wing. At 11. 30 AM, forensic experts arrive and a case of unnatural death is registered. After the family's police complaint, the case is changed to a r**e and m****r case. The police team installs 15 computer screens in a room of the hospital and starts checking all the CCTV footage. After this, the investigation begins. That night, five people were on night duty. They are separated and interrogated one by one. Because the statements of these five people are similar, they are released from police custody. During the re-examination process, they focus on one person who was wearing shorts and sleeveless t-shirts and was roaming around the third-floor seminar hall at 4 AM. The CCTV camera showed that he had Bluetooth earphones on his shoulder. This detail is important. You'll know why in a while.

Identification and Arrest of Sanjoy Roy

A police official from the hospital outpost identifies this person. His name is Sanjoy Roy. His cellphone location is tracked and it is found that he is located in a police barrack in Salt Lake, Kolkata. The next day, on 10th August, a police team is sent to arrest him. During this, the investigation progresses and they find Bluetooth earphones at the crime scene. Sanjoy is asked by the police where his Bluetooth earphones are. Sanjoy says that he has lost them. But when the police turn on Sanjoy's Bluetooth earphones, the phone's Bluetooth earphones automatically connect to the earphones they found at the crime scene. After this Sanjoy becomes the first suspect in the police record and his interrogation begins. The first time Sanjoy entered the hospital that night, he was drunk. He leaves the hospital at 11 PM to drink more and returns at 4 AM. The Kolkata police say that Sanjoy has confessed. But for the sake of evidence, they found several injury marks on Sanjoy's body and they also tried to match the skin samples from the victim's nails with Sanjoy's DNA samples. An official forensic report has not been released yet. But who is Sanjoy Roy? Sanjoy's family, including his mother, sister, and neighbor, call him a disgrace. He has two sisters. His elder sister is an assistant sub-inspector at the Kolkata police and his second sister is a civic volunteer. His sister said, I don't want to talk about him at all because he's a disgrace in our family's history. I can't even say a decent thing about him. Even if he gets hanged, we won't even come to collect his body.

Sanjoy Roy's Background and Previous Complaints

In 2019, Sanjoy joined the Kolkata Police Disaster Management Group as a civil volunteer. Civil volunteers are those who help in police traffic management or disaster response. They are contract workers and get Rs.12,000 per month. They are not officially from the Kolkata police. But Sanjoy officially introduced himself as a Kolkata policeman. In fact, his bike also had a Kolkata police sticker. And this wasn't the first time Sanjoy came to the RG Kar campus. Two years ago, he was a cook there. But then he disappeared for two years. And when he came back, he introduced himself as a Kolkata policeman. Hospital staff said that Sanjoy used to come there and he was close to Principal Sandeep Ghosh. In fact, Sanjoy used this to earn money. He used to take money from patients and promised them that he'd get them admitted in the hospital. Sanjoy is a suspect now because there's no official forensic report. That's why there's no conclusive evidence in the CBI or police investigation against Sanjoy. But this isn't the first police complaint against Sanjoy. On May 13, 2023, his wife filed a police complaint because Sanjoy beat her up when she was 3 months pregnant. A year before that, on August 8, 2022, another police complaint was filed against Sanjoy. But the police didn't take any action against him. In fact, he worked with the police as a civic volunteer. Durga Devi, Sanjoy's mother-in-law, said that he used to beat up her daughter. But if the police had taken action against him, this incident wouldn't have happened. This behavior is very common among rapists. Remember that r***e isn't about sex. It's about power and control. A rapist doesn't even feel sorry. Instead, he blames the victim. Take Mukesh Singh's example, who was sentenced to death in the Nirbhaya case. What does he say? Three months ago, I released a full video on the psychology of rapists. So, watch this video after this one. Even after Sanjoy got caught, many people are still unhappy. They say that Sanjoy didn't do it alone. The real culprit is being protected. Because the shocking details in the autopsy report showed that this can't be done by one person.

Autopsy Report and Allegations of Multiple Perpetrators

On 9th August, at 4. 40 PM, the report showed that many hairs were found on the mattress. Apart from this, there are many gruesome details in the report that I don't want to discuss in this video. For example, external injuries found in the body. Dr. Subarna Goswami, a former student of RG Kar, read the report and said that multiple penetrations were done. This means that more than one person was involved. Some details circulating on the internet, like 150 gm of semen found in the vagina, are completely wrong. Times of India has published a fact-check which you can read by pausing the video. Dr. Raja Dhar from CK Birla Hospital in Kolkata also said that according to the reports, more than one person was involved in this crime. His statement, which you can find in the source document, says that according to the details of the crime, multiple people were involved in this heinous act. This is why the investigation hasn't been completed yet. But the atmosphere went against Mamata Banerjee when people found out what the government did to the college principal. RG Kar's principal is Sandip Ghosh. As I told you earlier, the victim's family was told that the girl committed suicide. Since the principal is the administrative head of a college, the responsibility lies with the principal. It's hard to imagine that the principal didn't give the approval before contacting the victim's family. The worst part is that the principal tried to blame the victim. He said that it's irresponsible for a girl to go to a seminar hall alone at night. A medical college principal is like those people who blame girls for the atrocities they face. After saying such a despicable thing, protests against the principal started. But no action was taken against him. Finally, three days later, on August 12, he resigned.

Government's Action Regarding the Principal and Subsequent Protests

But the Bengal government didn't accept his resignation. Instead, he was transferred to Calcutta National Medical College where he became the principal. "Dr. Sandip Ghosh stepped down as the principal of RG Kar Medical College. " "The West Bengal government appointed him as the principal of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital. " So, if you don't take up the responsibility and say such a despicable thing, you won't be removed from your position. You'll be made the principal of another medical college. Wow! To stop his new appointment, doctors, students, and junior interns closed the doors of the office so that the principal can't take up his new position. Two senior members of the Trinamool Congress went there to calm the students. They were MLA Swarna Kamal and State Minister Jawed Ahmad Khan. But the students said, why are you here to calm us down? If you care so much, why did you make Sandip Ghosh the new principal? Sandip Ghosh has a close tie with the Trinamool Congress. Many doctors have accused him of running the hospital as if it's his kingdom. Akhtar Ali, the former deputy superintendent of RG Kar, said that Sandip is one of the most corrupt people. "He's a corrupt man. " "He failed the students in RGK Medical College. " "He took 20% commission from the tender order. " "He used to take a commission in every project in the college. " Many students who have worked under Sandip say that this principal is no less than a dictator. A medical intern said in an interview that Dr. Sandip Ghosh can do anything against you. He uses his political connections to threaten the students if they don't listen to him. He failed many students because they raised their voices against him. A victim's family lawyer said that the government transferred the principal instead of removing him. How can we trust the government? That's why the court transferred the case to the CBI because people lost their trust in the Kolkata police.

Lack of Trust in State Investigation and Transfer to CBI

To understand why people don't trust the West Bengal government in an independent investigation, you need to understand how Bengal's politics works. I made a detailed video on this topic a few years ago which I strongly recommend you watch. The link is in the description and at the end of the video. West Bengal's politics is controlled by the Trinamool Congress which they learned from the Communist Party. This means that whether it's university politics or panchayat politics, Trinamool Congress has a say everywhere. That's why many people can't even speak against it. I won't go into detail in this video. You can watch this video. But because of this, people don't believe that Bengal's government can carry out an independent investigation. This issue reached the court on 13th August. The victim's family lawyer argued that the case should be immediately transferred to the CBI or the evidence will be destroyed. The lawyer made many arguments. For example, the family was told that it was a suicide case. They had to wait for three hours before seeing the body. Then, there was evidence of rape and murder. But the first case filed by the Kolkata police was of unnatural death. Dr. Sandip Ghosh was transferred instead of being removed. The Calcutta High Court heard the arguments and transferred the case to the CBI. But the CBI didn't even start its work when a video went viral. The seminar room where the victim was raped and murdered the room next to it was suddenly being renovated. A student protester asked why the crime scene was being demolished when an investigation was going on. There was such a big incident in your college and the CBI is about to start an investigation. Then, why the renovation? What's the hurry? Other than this, there were rumors on social media that the college was involved in a sex and drug racket.

Erosion of Public Trust and Violent Protests

Since the details are gruesome and there is no concrete evidence or details in any official report, I won't talk about such things in this video. But the public's trust in the administration was gone. They don't think the investigation will be done properly. On 14th August, they planned a silent protest. Before the Independence Day, Reclaim the Night marches took place across the country to show that women can also participate in public spaces. "We're not only unsafe at night, but we're also unsafe during the day. " "We're visited during the day. " "We want our safety. " "We want the safety of our girls. " "We don't want anything else. " This protest was peaceful across the country. But suddenly, the protest took a dangerous turn near the RG Kar hospital. At 12 PM, violence broke out in the hospital. Many unknown people broke the barricades, manhandled doctors, and destroyed the hospital property. Emergency beds where patients were present were destroyed. And helpless doctors, nurses, and police officers had to flee. Protesters said that these unknown people come to the protest site in trucks, but no one knew who they were. Many of them were trying to climb up to the girls' hostel. A panic-inducing environment was created. At 2 AM, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal reached the scene and blamed the media. He said that the media had created a distrust between the police and civil society. "Malicious media campaign. . . Kolkata police has lost the trust of the people. " "Because of this, whether it's social media or this. " BJP State Secretary Suvendu Adhikari said that these goons were goons of the Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee said that they were CPIM and BJP goons. Kolkata Police is now using Twitter to identify these people. But we still don't know who they were and what motivated them to enter the hospital. Many people say that they were sent by someone to destroy evidence. There was a lot of commotion in the hospital. But Kolkata Police clarified that the crime scene was a seminar room and it wasn't damaged. But isn't it the responsibility of the Bengal government and Kolkata Police to stop violence and maintain law and order?

Mamata Banerjee's Protest and the Fallacy of Harsher Punishment as a Sole Solution

Instead, Mamata Banerjee announced that she's going to protest on 19th August. Why? Because she wants capital punishment for rapists. They should be hanged. It's like the pot is calling the kettle black. There was a gruesome rape in the state capital. The principal, the administrative head of the medical college was transferred instead of being sacked. This case is then transferred to CBI. And then you demand speedy justice and capital punishment. The police is under your control, so is the government, then what's all this drama about? But Mamata Banerjee, who's demanding a death penalty in her protest, is trying to divert you. Be careful. Like her, there are many people on social media who claim that rapes are happening in India because the punishment isn't strict. They say, look at countries like North Korea, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia where rapists are severely punished. If this happens in India too, it'll become a safe and developed country. Right? Absolutely wrong. This is an absurd argument. I'll tell you why. In 97% of rape cases in India, the victim knows the criminal. So, the rapist is a friend, family member, or neighbor. If the rapist is a family member and the punishment is a death penalty, what do you think will happen to the girl? The girl will be told to keep quiet and bury the matter. Secondly, a criminal has two things in mind. The first is the strictness of punishment, and the second is the possibility of being caught. The whole country is obsessed with punishment. They want to hang and shoot the rapist. We forget about the other thing. You think the rapist doesn't know that he'll be punished? He knows, but he's confident that the case will be buried. In rape cases, the conviction rate is only 27%, that is, no convict is found in 73% of the cases. That's why instead of increasing the punishment, we should invest in better policing and faster courts. In 2019, an infamous Hyderabad rape and murder case took place, where the police encountered the suspects. "In just 30 minutes, the police encountered 4 criminals. " The whole country was celebrating that see what is happening to the rapists. Did rapes stop after this encounter? No, because neither the policing nor the courts have changed.

Mamata Banerjee is fooling you by saying that we should demand the death penalty. While she should spend her time improving the police in Kolkata. And she should spend her time promoting gender equality among children. Remember that rape is just one way of sexual exploitation. Every day, the girls are being stared at or taunted. These are another way of sexual exploitation. And this will only be solved when we teach our children properly. Taro Ki Toli is an NGO trying to solve the root cause of this problem. How? By teaching children about gender equality. If we want to solve the root cause of this problem, we need to support such NGOs. Because the problem will only be solved when society's thinking changes.