Kolkata horror: SC questions West Bengal govt over ‘unverified’ civil volunteers working with state police

Expressing apprehensions over political patronage given to unverified civil volunteers working with the West Bengal Police, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the state government to disclose details of the process of recruitment for hiring them.

"This is a nice way to confer political patronage on selected individuals who are totally unverified,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said during hearing on a suo motu case initiated by the top court on the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, on August 9 that triggered nationwide outrage and protests.

“Who recruits these civic volunteers? We need to know what their qualifications are. We need to know that such volunteers do not operate in hospitals, schools which are sensitive in nature," it said, directing the West Bengal Government to furnish details on their recruitment.

The top court asked the West Bengal Government to file an affidavit detailing the legal source of authority for recruitment of civic volunteers; the modalities for their recruitment; the qualifications prescribed; verifications carried out before the recruitment; institutions where they were assigned duties; payments made to them on a daily/monthly basis; and the budget outlay.

The Bench asked the state government to give details on the steps taken to ensure that the civil volunteers did not operate in particularly vulnerable and sensitive establishments such as hospitals and schools and sought to know the number of civic volunteers involved in police stations and crime investigation.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the West Bengal Government, submitted that security staff at hospitals was recruited as per norms prescribed under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005.

The order came after senior advocate Karuna Nundy submitted on behalf of a doctors' body that the state government's 'Ratire Sathi' initiative to protect women working at night shifts was fraught with serious consequences as it involved civic volunteers. Citing the Salwa Judum case verdict (2011) in which the top court had disapproved of giving arms and police powers to private individuals, she said around 1,500 such civil volunteers were working in West Bengal.

On behalf of the victim’s parents, advocate Vrinda Grover pointed out that accused Sanjay Roy was also a civil volunteer having criminal antecedents who had access to a police vehicle registered in the name of Kolkata Police Commissioner.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the tardy pace at which the National Task Force (NTF), constituted by it to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other health care professionals was working, the Bench asked it to expedite its work. The Bench was surprised to know that the NTF had not held any meetings since September 9. Its first meeting was held on August 27.

“What has the task force done after September 9? Why no meetings after September 9? Why is there no progress? It must expedite the work,” the Bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said an affidavit had been filed detailing the steps taken by the NTF. Maintaining that NTF’s task was “humongous”, Mehta assured the Bench that it would expedite its work.

He submitted the fifth status report on behalf of the CBI and informed the Bench that the probe into the case was going on with “utmost seriousness” and a charge sheet was filed on October 7 against accused Sanjay Roy.

After perusing the CBI report, the Bench noted that the agency was probing the role of other persons and asked the agency to file a fresh status report in three weeks.