A screengrab from livestreaming on arguments in the Supreme Court (X/@amitmalviya)
During the proceedings, Mehta raised concerns over Kolkata Police’s delayed response in registering the ‘unnatural death’ of the victim and Sibal allegedly laughed during the exchange of arguments.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), reprimanded senior lawyer and West Bengal government counsel Kapil Sibal during the Supreme Court hearing when the latter allegedly laughed amid the proceedings.
The Supreme Court was hearing over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College on Thursday. During the proceedings, Mehta raised concerns over Kolkata Police’s delayed response in registering the ‘unnatural death’ of the victim and Sibal allegedly laughed during the exchange of arguments.
This irked the Solicitor General who schooled Sibal during the exchange of arguments.
“…so this is from the general entry,” the SG stated, prompting an intervention from the West Bengal government’s lawyer. “A girl has lost her life in the most inhuman and undignified manner. Somebody has died. Do not at least laugh,” he sternly said.
Sharing the 32-second-long clip, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya slammed Sibal for his ‘complete insensitivity.’
Complete insensitivity on display. Like Mamata Banerjee, the legal team representing WB Govt, led by former Congressman Kapil Sibal, showed no remorse, whatsoever, for having killed the young doctor twice…Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had to remind Kapil Sibal ‘not to laugh’. pic.twitter.com/bwtJBqeSBb
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 22, 2024
“Like (West Bengal CM) Mamata Banerjee, the legal team representing the WB Govt, led by former Congressman Kapil Sibal, showed no remorse, whatsoever, for having killed the young doctor twice…Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had to remind Kapil Sibal ‘not to laugh’,” he said on X.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud expressed shock at the order of legal procedures followed by the police in probing the highly-sensitive case. The justices found it particularly concerning that the victim’s postmortem was conducted on August 9 between 6:10 pm and 7:10 pm, prior to the case being officially registered as an unnatural death. This sequence of events raised questions about the proper adherence to standard legal protocols in the investigation.
“How was it that the postmortem was conducted at 6.10 pm on August 9 and yet the unnatural death information is sent to Tala police station at 11.30 pm on August 9. This is extremely disturbing,” the bench, comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.
Mehta told the top court that the most shocking fact is that the FIR was registered at 11.45 pm after the postgraduate medic was cremated.
“State police told parents it was suicide, then they said it was murder. Victim’s friend suspected cover up and insisted on videography,” Mehta told the bench.
The CBI in its status report said the crime scene was altered and the victim’s family was misled about their daughter’s death. The family was informed that their daughter died due to suicide.
The court ordered the Kolkata Police officer who recorded the initial report of the rape-murder case, to attend the next hearing on September 5. The officer is required to reveal the exact time when the report was filed.
