Wed Jan 29 10:36:41 UTC 2025: ## Supreme Court Orders Regularization of Doctor Absences Following Kolkata Murder Protests
**New Delhi** – The Supreme Court of India has directed all hospitals, including AIIMS New Delhi, to regularize the absences of doctors who participated in nationwide protests following the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata last year.
The court’s decision, announced Wednesday, clarifies that the absence of doctors who returned to work after the court’s August 22, 2024 order should be treated as regularized, not as leave. This ruling comes after some institutions, including AIIMS Delhi, classified the protest period as leave, potentially impacting postgraduate students.
The court’s intervention stemmed from a suo motu case initiated in response to the heinous crime. The bench noted that while some AIIMS branches (Kalyani, Gorakhpur) and the PGI Chandigarh had regularized the absences, others had not. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta confirmed that the government would comply with the court’s order.
The August 22, 2024 order had already ensured no coercive action would be taken against protesting doctors upon their return to work. The Supreme Court’s latest directive aims to resolve the inconsistencies in how different institutions handled the absences related to the widespread protests. A Kolkata court sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment for the crime in January 2025.
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