India top court sets up doctors’ panel on workplace safety after rape, murder

India’s Supreme Court created a national task force of doctors on Tuesday to recommend steps to ensure safety in their workplaces, days after a trainee doctor was raped and murdered at a hospital, sparking national outrage.

The attack on August 9 in the eastern city of Kolkata has triggered nationwide protests as people demand justice for the victim and greater safety for women at hospitals, with doctors at several places refusing to see non-emergency patients.

A police volunteer has been arrested for the crime and the federal police have taken over the investigation. The public anger and protests over violence against women is reminiscent of what followed the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012.

The Supreme Court, which took up the case on its own, directed the federal police to submit a report on the status of its investigation on Thursday.

It also ordered a federal paramilitary force to be deployed at the hospital where the crime occurred to provide security to female doctors, who complained they did not feel safe after the crime and vandalisation of the hospital by unidentified men.

The court suggested the task force consider sweeping reforms including security in medical establishments, separate resting rooms for female staff, adequate lighting across the campus, CCTV coverage, and creation of employee panels to conduct quarterly safety audits.

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“If women cannot go to a place of work and be safe, then we are denying them the basic conditions of equality,” said Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, who headed a three-judge bench of the court.

The court told the task force to submit an interim report