In the Kolkata rape and murder case, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud refuted the “151 mg semen” notion on Thursday and advised an attorney not to rely on social media during arguments in court.
While presiding over the three-judge bench hearing a suo motu case pertaining to the violent rape and murder of the thirty-one-year-old doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital on August 9, Chief Justice Chandrachud delivered his response.
One of the attorneys said during the hearing that the PMR (post-mortem report) mentions 151 mg of semen and is expressed in millilitres (mL).
To this, Chief Justice Chandrachud replied, “Don’t confuse this. Don’t use social media to make arguments in court. We have specifically now the post-mortem report before us and we know what that 151 refers to. Let’s not use what we read on social media and make legal arguments on that basis.”
According to prior accounts, the victim’s body contained 150 mg of semen, which may indicate that the victim had been gangraped. The petition her relatives filed in the Calcutta High Court served as the basis of this information. Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal, however, had denied such reports.
“Someone said 150 gm semen is found. I don’t know where they have found this kind of Information. And it is circulating in media in all kinds of forms. People are tempted to believe it and they are trying to create confusion among the people,” Mr Goyal had told a press conference.
In addition, Kolkata Police’s “extremely disturbing” delay in filing the case of a female doctor who was raped and killed at RG Kar Hospital was criticised by the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice Chandrachud-led bench, which also included Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, questioned the reasons for the 14-hour delay in submitting the first information report (FIR). The order of events and the punctuality of procedural formalities were also examined closely.
“Who was in touch with the principal of RG Kar Medical College? Why did he delay the FIR? What was the purpose?” the bench asked.
A number of petitions about the rape and killing of a doctor at the state-run hospital are being heard by the Supreme Court. On August 9, the victim—a postgraduate trainee physician—was discovered dead in the hospital’s seminar hall. A medical exam has verified the rape.
A day after the event, Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer, was taken into custody by Kolkata Police. Days later, however, the Calcutta High Court, observing no appreciable advancement in the city police investigation, moved the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In this investigation, the CBI has not yet made any arrests.
