The Indian Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday constituted a National Task Force (NTF) of medical professionals to give regulatory recommendations for workplace safety and protection citing the recent rape and murder of a 31-year-old female trainee doctor inside hospital premises, which fueled nationwide protest.

While hearing the matter, the SC expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the state machinery and police in their negligent approach towards the case, including not filing the First Information Report (FIR) on time and telling the victim’s parents that she committed suicide. The court also criticized the police for failing to protect peaceful protesters from a mob attack during the “Reclaim the Night” campaign where a mob vandalized the RG Kar Medical Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, the location of the murder.

The apex court cited a lack of security for medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and paramedics, in hospitals where they are frequently attacked by patients’ families and also stressed the unhygienic working conditions doctors face, with too few restrooms for both male and female professionals. The SC in its order also highlighted:

As more and more women join the work force in cutting edge areas of knowledge and science, the nation has a vital stake in ensuring safe and dignified conditions of work. The constitutional value of equality demands nothing else and will not brook compromises on the health, well being and safety of those who provide health care to others. The nation cannot await a rape or murder for real changes on the ground.

The action plan for NTF has been broadly divided into two sections. The first includes preventing violence, including gender-based violence against medical professionals, and the second calls for providing an enforceable national protocol for dignified and safe working conditions for interns, residents, senior residents, doctors, nurses and all medical professionals.

The SC also highlighted section 13 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, which calls on employers to regularly organize awareness programmes and provide safety to the employees.

The SC assumed the case while proceedings were ongoing in the Calcutta High Court. The investigation of the case has been transferred to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), citing dissatisfaction with state police conduct in the present case and public demand through Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed before the high court.