‘Submit affidavit on recruitment of civic volunteers’

Kolkata: With objections raised against the involvement of civic volunteers for the protection of women during night shifts under the ‘Raatirer Saathi’ scheme of the West Bengal government, the Supreme Court, during the RG Kar rape and murder case hearing on Tuesday, directed the State of West Bengal to submit affidavit revealing how such volunteers are recruited, deployed and mechanisms in place for background verification.

The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the state of WB, to submit an affidavit on the next date of hearing explaining the following: The legal source of authority for the recruitment of civic volunteers in the state; the modalities for recruitment; the qualifications for recruitment; the verification carried out before recruitment is made; the institutions in which these civic volunteers are assigned duties; and the payments made to the civic volunteers, whether on a daily or monthly basis and the budgetary outlays in that regard.

Further, the bench said the affidavit should specifically disclose the selection process followed and steps taken to ensure that such volunteers do not operate in any event in sensitive establishments such as hospitals and schools which may be particularly vulnerable. The affidavit should disclose whether any of these civic volunteers are assigned duties in or in connection with police stations or the investigation of crime, the court directed.

Reminding that the main accused in RG Kar rape and murder is a civic volunteer, the bench was told by senior advocate Karuna Nundy that the state is violating Calcutta High Court order that no law and order functions may be discharged by civic volunteers and such civilians.

She also said the Apex Court in the Nandini Sundar case said that SPOs must be disbanded and that civilians cannot discharge these functions. She placed an application to set aside the Rattirer Saathi scheme. Advocate Dwivedi said recruitments of such volunteers are now being done in accordance with the Private Security Agencies Regulations Act 2005, under which all the hospitals in India, including the public hospitals in Delhi, are recruiting. He submitted that the accused Sanjoy Roy was recruited through a police notification.

Senior advocate Vrinda Grover, representing the victim’s parents, told the court: “What verification is done? The man (Sanjoy Roy) had cases against him, particularly of domestic violence. None of that verification is done when a man is appointed as a civic volunteer which gives him access to even police motorbikes..”