On 9 August 2024, a 31-year-old trainee doctor was found raped and murdered in a seminar room at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. It set off "Reclaim the Night" marches, nationwide doctors' strikes, a 42-day cease-work and hunger strike by West Bengal's junior doctors, and a Supreme Court case on hospital safety. Civic volunteer Sanjay Roy got a life sentence in January 2025; appeals and a fresh CBI probe were pending in October 2026.
Key takeaways
- A trainee doctor was found raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata, on 9 August 2024; civic volunteer Sanjay Roy was arrested the next day.
- The Calcutta High Court moved the probe to the CBI on 13 August 2024, citing "no significant progress" by state police.
- During the 14 August "Reclaim the Night" marches a mob vandalised the hospital's emergency ward; 19 to 25 people were arrested.
- Junior doctors held a 42-day cease-work and a 17-day hunger strike; the Kolkata police commissioner was removed.
- Roy was sentenced to life in January 2025; the CBI's death-penalty appeal and a court-ordered fresh CBI probe were pending in October 2026.
The crime and the first arrest
The trainee, a second-year chest medicine postgraduate on night duty, went to rest in the seminar room because there was no separate on-call room, a colleague said. Her body was found there on the morning of 9 August Deccan Herald. The post-mortem recorded 16 external and 9 internal injuries and gave the cause of death as "manual strangulation associated with smothering" ThePrint.
On 10 August a Kolkata Police team arrested Sanjay Roy (also spelled Sanjoy), a 33-year-old civic volunteer, using a broken Bluetooth earphone found at the scene and CCTV footage ThePrint.
The parents said they were told she was sick, then that she had died by suicide, and were kept from the body for up to three hours LiveLaw. Junior doctors at RG Kar stopped non-emergency work that day Deccan Herald. This page does not name the victim, as Indian law bars disclosing the identity of a victim of sexual assault.
The High Court hands the case to the CBI
Principal Sandip Ghosh resigned citing "moral responsibility" and was appointed principal of Calcutta National Medical College within hours. On 13 August a division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya, on pleas including the parents', transferred the investigation to the CBI LiveLaw. It ordered Ghosh on indefinite leave.
There has been no significant progress in the investigation. The administration was not with the victim or her family. The principal has not even given a statement.
Calcutta High Court, order transferring the probe to the CBI, 13 August 2024 (LiveLaw)
Government's position The state told the court its investigation was thorough and that an unnatural death case was registered because no complaint had been filed LiveLaw. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, also home and health minister, said she would seek the death penalty and endorsed the junior doctors' demands Deccan Herald.
Reclaim the Night and the hospital vandalism
Activist Rimjhim Sinha posted a Facebook call for women to step out at 11.55 pm on 14 August, the eve of Independence Day Scroll. Thousands marched across West Bengal, about 8,000 at New Town's Biswa Bangla Gate alone, with party flags banned Tribune/PTI.
Shortly after midnight a group entered RG Kar hospital, wrecked the emergency ward, nursing station, medicine store and CCTV cameras, overturned a police vehicle and stoned police Tribune/PTI. Nurses said police "entered the emergency building seeking refuge"; police said the seminar room was untouched because staff had locked it TNM/Newslaundry.
Estimates of the mob vary: Kolkata Police said "nearly 40 people, masquerading as protestors" PTI; Newslaundry reported a "150-strong mob" that injured at least eight police TNM/Newslaundry; and the state's lawyer told the High Court a crowd of 7,000 had assembled at the hospital Deccan Herald.
Police arrested 19 people by 16 August and 25 later TNM The Mooknayak. The High Court observed that the mob violence was an absolute failure of state machinery Deccan Herald.
Claim · Mamata Banerjee The chief minister said the attack "was orchestrated by the Left party and BJP". Claim · CPI(M) CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Selim said "TMC's local leadership sent their foot soldiers". Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal blamed "a malicious campaign by the media against the Kolkata police" TNM/Newslaundry. No court has ruled on who organised it.
The nationwide doctors' strike
On 12 August, resident doctors at AIIMS and other Delhi hospitals began an indefinite strike called by the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), shutting OPDs and operation theatres but keeping emergencies open Tribune/PTI. After the vandalism, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) declared a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency services from 6 am on 17 August Tribune/PTI Onmanorama.
FORDA and the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) called off their 11-day strike on 22 August after the Supreme Court appealed to doctors to return Careers360/PTI. West Bengal's junior doctors did not.
The Supreme Court's suo motu case
The Supreme Court took up the case on its own on 18 August. On 20 August a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra set up a 10-member National Task Force headed by Surgeon Vice Admiral Arti Sarin LiveLaw Scroll.
The nation cannot await a rape or murder for real changes on the ground.
Supreme Court order, 20 August 2024 (LiveLaw)
The bench asked why the FIR was registered only at 11.45 pm. Kapil Sibal, for West Bengal, said an unnatural death case was registered immediately and there was no delay LiveLaw. The court asked the state not to take coercive action against peaceful protesters and said the CISF would guard the hospital and hostels Scroll.
On 17 December 2025 the court sent the case to the Calcutta High Court to oversee compliance LiveLaw Tribune.
Nabanna Abhijan and the BJP bandh
On 27 August a march to the state secretariat, Nabanna, by a new BJP-backed group, "Paschimbanga Chattro Samaj", demanded Mamata Banerjee's resignation without police permission. Police used lathis, water cannon and tear gas on GT Road in Howrah after protesters threw stones and bricks and tried to topple barricades. Police said 220 people were arrested Tribune/PTI. The Wire reported "over 200" arrests and "over a hundred tear gas shells" fired The Wire.
Claim · BJP BJP president JP Nadda wrote that "it's a crime to speak for women's safety" in the state Tribune/PTI. Government's position TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said "the police did what was necessary to stop the unruly crowd" The Wire.
The BJP's 12-hour bandh on 28 August partly affected life. Leaders including Roopa Ganguly and Agnimitra Paul were detained, and Eastern Railway said tracks were blocked at 49 places Tribune/PTI.
Sandip Ghosh and the Tala police officer
On 2 September the CBI arrested Sandip Ghosh in a separate case of financial irregularities at the hospital. On 14 September it added charges in the rape-murder case against him and arrested Abhijit Mondal, officer-in-charge of Tala police station, for destruction of evidence and delay in lodging the FIR Tribune/PTI ThePrint.
On 13 December 2024 a Sealdah court granted both men bail because the CBI had not filed a chargesheet within the 90-day limit. Ghosh stayed in custody in the corruption case The Wire Outlook. The victim's mother told PTI "it feels like the system is failing us". In 2026 the Supreme Court issued notice on Ghosh's bail plea in the financial case LiveLaw.
The junior doctors' sit-in, talks and hunger strike
The Supreme Court asked the junior doctors to return by 5 pm on 10 September. Instead they began a sit-in outside Swasthya Bhawan, the health department headquarters. The state told the court on 9 September that 23 patients had died for lack of timely care during the cease-work Deccan Herald.
After four failed attempts at talks, 42 doctors met Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat home on 16 September. She agreed to remove Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, the Deputy Commissioner (North), the Director of Medical Education and the Director of Health Services. "We have accepted almost all the demands of the doctors," she said DT Next/IANS. Manoj Verma replaced Goyal on 17 September Deccan Herald.
The doctors resumed emergency duties on 21 September, struck again on 1 October, and on 5 October began an indefinite hunger strike Scroll. On 21 October, the 17th day of the fast, they met the chief minister in a meeting live-streamed from Nabanna. She rejected the demand to remove Health Secretary NS Nigam: "You cannot call a person accused without any concrete proof" Tribune/PTI. They ended the fast that evening.
We did get the assurance of some directives, but the body language of the state government was not positive.
Debashish Halder, junior doctor, 21 October 2024 (PTI via Tribune)
Timeline
Body found
Trainee found dead; junior doctors stop work DH.
Civic volunteer arrested
Kolkata Police arrest Sanjay Roy ThePrint.
Probe to CBI
Calcutta High Court transfers the case LiveLaw.
Reclaim the Night; hospital vandalised
A mob ransacks the emergency ward Tribune.
National Task Force
Supreme Court sets up the NTF LiveLaw.
Nabanna march and bandh
Clashes, 220 arrests, then a 12-hour BJP bandh Tribune.
Police chief removed
Vineet Goyal replaced DT Next.
Hunger strike
Junior doctors fast for 17 days Scroll.
Verdict
Roy convicted, then sentenced to life SCC Online.
The trial and the sentence
The CBI chargesheeted Roy alone and ruled out the gang rape the parents alleged ThePrint. On 18 January 2025 Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das convicted Roy under sections 64, 66 and 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The court relied on CCTV, phone location, his DNA on swabs and the victim's blood on his clothes, and held that no other person was involved SCC Online. Roy told the court he was being framed.
On 20 January the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment for the rest of his natural life and a Rs 50,000 fine, and ordered the state to pay the family Rs 17 lakh. He held that the case did not meet the "rarest of the rare" test for death and that the court "must resist the temptation to bow to public pressure" SCC Online.
Mamata Banerjee said: "Had it been with the (Kolkata) police, we would have ensured that he was served a death sentence" Tribune/PTI. Both the state and the CBI sought the death penalty. The High Court admitted the CBI's appeal in February 2025, saying the CBI was the investigating agency, and refused to admit the state's Tribune/PTI Scroll. Roy has sought release Akashvani.
Both accounts
Protesters' and family's account
The junior doctors and the parents said the hospital and police tried to suppress the case: the suicide claim, the unnatural death registration, the late FIR and Ghosh's quick reappointment LiveLaw. Doctors also demanded an end to a "threat culture" in medical colleges Scroll. Claim · Parents The parents say more people were involved and that the cremation was rushed to prevent a second post-mortem ThePrint Outlook/PTI.
Police and state government account
The state said an unnatural death case was registered immediately and denied any delay LiveLaw; its police arrested the accused within a day ThePrint. Mamata Banerjee blamed the Left and BJP for the vandalism, and her party called the Nabanna crowd unruly. She accepted most of the doctors' demands but said some "cannot be implemented overnight" Tribune/PTI. Documented The trial court found Roy alone responsible on the evidence before it SCC Online.
Outcome
- Conviction: Sanjay Roy, life imprisonment for the rest of his natural life.
- Officials removed: the Kolkata police commissioner, DC (North), DME and DHS.
- Arrests: Ghosh and Mondal; 19 to 25 for the vandalism; 220 after the Nabanna march.
- State measures: Rs 100 crore for hospital infrastructure and a security task force DT Next.
Where things stand in October 2026
At a first-anniversary march on 9 August 2025, the victim's mother alleged police pinned her to the ground; DC (Port) Harikrishna Pai said "police did not do anything to the parents" DT Next/PTI.
In the 2026 Assembly election the mother won Panihati for the BJP by more than 28,000 votes. The BJP won 206 of 294 seats, ending 15 years of TMC rule Scroll, and Suvendu Adhikari became chief minister ThePrint/PTI.
On 21 May 2026 the High Court, on the family's plea, ordered a fresh probe by a three-member CBI SIT under its Joint Director (East) Madhyamam. On 6 August Justice Shampa Sarkar told the CBI: "Forget the previous investigation" Telangana Today/IANS. On 28 August it gave the CBI three weeks to finish ETV Bharat. The CBI filed a sealed report on 24 September, and arguments are listed for 20 November 2026 Medical Dialogues/PTI.
On 9 August 2026 Adhikari announced a separate state inquiry under what he called the "Special Commission Act, 1952", saying the police had failed to do their duty in the case, and a separate probe into the cremation ThePrint/PTI ETV Bharat. On 13 August, on the father's complaint, police arrested former TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh in Odisha for destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy over the cremation Tribune/PTI Outlook/PTI. Claim · Family No court has ruled on these allegations.
What is still pending
- The CBI's death-penalty appeal and Roy's plea for release in the Calcutta High Court; no ruling found in the sources reviewed.
- The CBI SIT's fresh probe, listed for arguments on 20 November 2026.
- The cases against Sandip Ghosh, the Khardah cremation case and the state's inquiry.
Questions people ask
What happened at RG Kar Medical College in August 2024?
A 31-year-old trainee doctor was found raped and murdered in a seminar room on 9 August 2024. Civic volunteer Sanjay Roy was arrested the next day and later convicted.
What punishment did Sanjay Roy get?
On 20 January 2025 a Sealdah court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the rest of his natural life and a Rs 50,000 fine. The CBI's appeal for the death penalty is pending in the Calcutta High Court.
Why did the junior doctors strike for so long?
They demanded justice, removal of officials they blamed for a cover-up, hospital security and an end to a "threat culture". The cease-work lasted about 42 days; a 17-day hunger strike followed.
Is the RG Kar case closed?
No. In May 2026 the Calcutta High Court ordered a fresh CBI SIT probe, and the state ordered its own inquiry in August 2026. The next High Court hearing is listed for 20 November 2026.
Sources
- Deccan Herald: Kolkata doctor rape-murder case, all you need to know, Aug 2024
- ThePrint: Kolkata court finds Sanjay Roy guilty, 18 Jan 2025
- LiveLaw: High Court transfers probe to CBI, 13 Aug 2024
- Scroll: Reclaim the Night, Kolkata edition, Aug 2024
- Tribune/PTI: Women fill streets across West Bengal in midnight protests, 15 Aug 2024
- Tribune/PTI: IMA announces 24-hour closure of non-emergency services, 15 Aug 2024
- Onmanorama/PTI: IMA calls 24-hour nationwide doctors' strike, 16 Aug 2024
- The News Minute/Newslaundry: Inside the vandalism at RG Kar Hospital, Aug 2024
- The Mooknayak: 25 arrested after RG Kar hospital vandalism, Aug 2024
- Tribune/PTI: Delhi hospitals launch indefinite strike, 12 Aug 2024
- Careers360/PTI: FORDA, FAIMA call off strike after Supreme Court appeal, 22 Aug 2024
- LiveLaw: Supreme Court forms task force on medical professionals' safety, 20 Aug 2024
- Scroll: Supreme Court sets up National Task Force, 20 Aug 2024
- LiveLaw: Supreme Court transfers suo motu proceedings to Calcutta High Court, Dec 2025
- Tribune: SC transfers RG Kar case to Calcutta HC, 17 Dec 2025
- Tribune/PTI: Protesters, cops clash during Kolkata march, 28 Aug 2024
- The Wire: BJP-backed Nabanna march turns violent, 27 Aug 2024
- Tribune/PTI: 12-hour bandh partially affects life in Bengal, 28 Aug 2024
- Tribune/PTI: CBI charges Sandip Ghosh, arrests policeman, 14 Sept 2024
- The Wire: Sandip Ghosh, Abhijit Mondal granted bail, 13 Dec 2024
- Outlook: Ex-principal Sandip Ghosh granted bail, 13 Dec 2024
- LiveLaw: Supreme Court seeks CBI response on Sandip Ghosh's bail plea, 2026
- Deccan Herald: Junior doctors to continue sit-in, cease work, 18 Sept 2024
- DT Next/IANS: Kolkata top cop and two health officials removed, 17 Sept 2024
- Scroll: Doctors call off hunger strike after meeting CM, 21 Oct 2024
- Tribune/PTI: Doctors call off strike after meeting Didi, 22 Oct 2024
- SCC Online: Kolkata court sentences Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment, 20 Jan 2025
- Tribune/PTI: Bengal government moves HC seeking death penalty, 21 Jan 2025
- Tribune/PTI: HC admits CBI appeal against life term, Feb 2025
- Akashvani: New bench to hear RG Kar case, May 2026
- DT Next/PTI: Victim's mother alleges police roughed her up, 9 Aug 2025
- Scroll: Mother of Kolkata doctor wins Panihati, May 2026
- Madhyamam: Calcutta HC orders fresh CBI SIT probe, 21 May 2026
- Telangana Today/IANS: High Court asks CBI to speed up fresh probe, 6 Aug 2026
- ETV Bharat: High Court directs CBI to complete probe in three weeks, 28 Aug 2026
- Medical Dialogues/PTI: CBI submits sealed report on alleged conspiracy, 26 Sept 2026
- ThePrint/PTI: Bengal CM orders fresh probe, 9 Aug 2026
- ETV Bharat: Suvendu orders fresh probe, 9 Aug 2026
- Tribune/PTI: TMC ex-MLA held over hurried cremation, 14 Aug 2026
- Outlook/PTI: Nirmal Ghosh arrested over alleged hurried cremation, 13 Aug 2026