Senior Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal on Monday hit back at Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for criticising a purported resolution issued by the former in his capacity as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) calling the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a ‘symptomatic malaise.’
Taking to X, Sibal cited a report by the Times Of India on the number of sexual assault cases across the country from 2017 to 2022, with West Bengal, of which Kolkata is the capital, missing from the list.
“Out of 1551 case of rape/gangrape followed by murder. UP reported maximum cases (280) followed by MP (207), Assam (205), Maharashtra (155) and Karnataka (79). Dhankar Ji: Seen this? Why West Bengal missing? No malaise?” the Rajya Sabha member wrote.
Sibal is representing the West Bengal government in the Supreme Court, which took suo motu cognisance of the RG Kar case.
In the purported resolution, the ex-member of the Congress party had also suggested that incidents such as the RG Kar one are a ‘commonplace,’ angering the Vice President for this assertion as well.
Last week, Dhankhar, the ex-officio Chair of the Rajya Sabha, lambasted Sibal for his remarks.
“I am appalled; I am pained and somewhat surprised that someone holding a position in the Supreme Court Bar, a Member of Parliament, acting in (such) a manner and what does he say? A symptomatic malaise and suggested that such incidents are a commonplace? What a shame! Words fail me in condemning such a stance. It is doing greatest injustice to the high position,” he stated at an event in Delhi University on August 30.
