The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it clear that it cannot issue sweeping protective orders for doctors who have been protesting after the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma said any direction shielding doctors from police action would amount to interfering with the powers of law enforcement.

The judges said the court was not inclined to handle the matter in fragments and suggested that the proceedings be shifted to the Calcutta High Court for effective monitoring.

The bench asked, almost rhetorically, how the Supreme Court could oversee protests happening hundreds of kilometres away. “It is easier for the Calcutta High Court to monitor protests. Is it possible fo

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