NEW DELHI — India’s highest court on Tuesday established a national task force comprised of doctors who will provide recommendations for the safety of healthcare workers at their places of employment. This action comes in the wake of the that sparked outrage and nationwide protests.
The Supreme Court declared that the doctors’ panel will establish guidelines to ensure the safety and protection of medical professionals and healthcare workers across the nation.
“Protecting the safety of doctors and women doctors is a matter of national interest and a principle of equality. The nation cannot wait for another rape before taking action,” Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud stated.
Doctors and medical personnel across India candlelight marches and even temporarily ceased care for non-emergency patients since Aug. 9 following the killing in the eastern city of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state. The doctors contend that the assault highlights the vulnerability of healthcare workers in hospitals and medical campuses throughout India.
The court also directed the federal agency investigating the killing to submit a report on Thursday regarding the progress of its investigation. A police volunteer has been apprehended and charged with the crime, but the victim’s family alleges that it was a gang rape involving multiple individuals.
The suspension of work by doctors has impacted thousands of patients across India. They are demanding stricter laws to safeguard them from violence, including making any attack on on-duty medical professionals a non-bailable offense.
The rape and killing of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata city’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital has also brought to the forefront the persistent issue of .
Thousands of individuals, particularly women, have participated in marches in the streets of Kolkata and other Indian cities demanding justice for the doctor. They assert that women in India continue to confront escalating violence despite the enactment of stringent laws following the on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012.
That attack prompted lawmakers to mandate harsher penalties for such crimes and establish fast-track courts specifically for rape cases. The government also introduced the death penalty for repeat offenders.
Despite the implementation of tougher legislation, sexual violence against women remains a pervasive problem in India.
In 2022, police documented 31,516 reports of rape — a 20% increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.