- By Anushka Vats
- Wed, 14 Aug 2024 10:57 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Dr Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the RG Kar medical college, Kolkata, is also under the radar for the rape and murder of the 31-year-old doctor. The incident has sparked nationwide anguish with doctors protesting for justice. Ghosh, who resigned from his post after a massive erupted in the aftermath of the horrific incident, got a new appointment hours later.
Sandip Ghosh resigned from the position of principal at RG Kar Medical College on Monday alleging that he was being defamed on social media platforms following the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the hospital premises.
On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court had also asked him to submit a leave application by 3 PM on Tuesday. The Chief Justice division bench of the Calcutta HC was considering several PILs in the matter on Tuesday. During the hearing, the Chief Justice questioned the appointment of the former principal.
"How can the principal - who resigned by taking moral responsibility, be appointed as the principal of another government college? The court has asked him to submit a leave application by 3 pm today or the court will pass an order for him to leave the position," the court observed.
Who Is Sandip Ghosh? Times When He Landed Into Controversy
- Sandip Ghosh, who was formerly the Vice Principal at Calcutta National Medical College, was appointed as the Principal of RG Kar on February 9, 2021, following an order from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal.
- RG Kar experienced protests from more than 350 students who objected to the college authorities' refusal to establish separate councils for students and hostels, months after he took over the charge as the principal of the college.
- The students demonstrated by staging a hunger strike outside Dr Ghosh’s office.
- Some media reports in January 2023 also reported that Dr Ghosh was surrounded by a new controversy involving allegations that bodies brought in for autopsy were being utilised for "dissection practicals" without prior consent from the deceased's families. In response to these claims, Dr Ghosh pledged to conduct an internal investigation.
- The West Bengal government also issued a replacement order after the incident. According to the order, Dr Sandip Ghosh was to be replaced with Dr Sanath Ghosh as the new Principal of RG Kar. However, Dr Sandip was reappointed as the Principal after Sanath found the Principal’s office locked from the outside.
- On September 11, 2023, Dr Ghosh was transferred once again, this time to Murshidabad Medical College, with Dr Manas Kumar Bandopadhyay appointed as his replacement. However, Dr Bandopadhyay faced resistance upon arriving for his first day at RG Kar, where protesting students blocked his way to the Principal’s office, demanding Dr Ghosh’s reinstatement. At the time, some doctors claimed that these protests were "engineered" by "certain lobbies."
- A month after his transfer, on October 9, 2023, another government decree was passed that reinstated Dr Ghosh at RG Kar.