January 29, 2025: The Supreme Court has directed hospitals, including the prestigious AIIMS New Delhi, to regularise the unauthorised absence of doctors who participated in protests against the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata. The protests followed the tragic death of a trainee doctor at the hospital in August 2024.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar responded to submissions made by a doctor’s body, which highlighted that while some hospitals had regularised the absence of protesting doctors in line with the court’s August 22, 2024 order, a few others, including AIIMS Delhi, chose to treat the absence as leave of absence.

"We deem it appropriate to clarify that if protesting workers had joined work post the Supreme Court order, then their absence shall be regularised and not treated as absence from duty," stated the CJI. He further clarified that this decision was specific to the facts of the case and should not be considered a legal precedent.

The counsel for the doctor’s body expressed concerns that treating the protest period as leave might lead to complications for some medical postgraduate students.

Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that the hospitals would comply with the directions. Mehta explained that some hospitals, like those in Kalyani, Gorakhpur, and PGI Chandigarh, had already regularised the absence, but others, including AIIMS Delhi, treated the period as leave.

On August 22, 2024, the Supreme Court had made an impassioned appeal to protesting doctors to resume their duties, emphasizing that "justice and medicine" must continue. The court also ordered that no coercive steps be taken against the doctors who returned to work.

The protests were triggered by the heinous rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital, a crime that sparked nationwide outrage. The victim's body was found in the hospital's seminar room on August 9, 2024. Following the incident, the Kolkata police arrested civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, who was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on January 20, 2025.

This case remains under active judicial review, with the Supreme Court continuing to monitor the situation closely.