India’s Supreme Court Sets up Doctors’ Panel on Workplace Safety After Sexual Assault

India’s Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday the formation of a national task group of doctors to provide suggestions on workplace safety, days after the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor ignited nationwide protests.

The court also ordered the federal police to submit a report on Thursday on the status of its probe into the Aug. 9 murder of a trainee doctor at a state-run hospital in Kolkata.

Doctors around the country have protested and refused to see non-emergency patients in response to the incident, calling for a safer workplace and a prompt criminal investigation.

A police volunteer has been arrested and charged with the offence. Women campaigners believe the event has underlined how women in India continue to face sexual abuse, despite stricter rules enacted following the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi.

Source: Reuters