Kolkata rape-murder: Why RG Kar’s new principal Suhrita Paul was sacked, days after appointment

Under mounting pressure from protesting medical students, the West Bengal government on Wednesday sacked RG Kar Medical College’s recently appointed principal, Suhrita Paul.

She along with three other senior officials of the institution, who have been under scrutiny since the tragic rape and murder of a junior doctor on hospital premises earlier this month, have now been transferred.

Paul had stepped into the principal’s role on August 13, following the resignation of her predecessor, Sandip Ghosh. However, her tenure at the state-run college was short-lived.  

What factors triggered her untimely removal? Let’s take a closer look

How Suhrita Paul was appointed?

Following the growing public outcry over the brutal incident at RG Kar Hospital, protests against the then-principal, Sandip Ghosh, quickly escalated. Under intense pressure, Ghosh stepped down, citing “moral responsibility” and alleging a “political conspiracy” against him. He claimed that he was being defamed on social media following the tragedy.

In a swift response, the West Bengal government appointed Suhrita Paul, who was serving as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the Health and Family Welfare Department, as the new principal.

However, Ghosh’s resignation and his subsequent transfer to Calcutta’s National Medical College only fueled the students’ anger further and Paul’s appointment did little to quell the unrest.

Tensions reached a boiling point on August 15, when a mob vandalised the hospital campus, attacking the protest site and damaging public property. The midnight chaos led to a heated confrontation between Paul and the protesting students.

When they demanded immediate action, Paul’s frustration was clearly visible. “If you can’t trust me for one hour then send me home also,” she retorted, drawing a parallel to Ghosh. She insisted, “I need one hour to do some official work. You need to believe me, I won’t go. You have to believe me. If you can’t believe me then don’t expect anything from me.”

Despite her efforts to assert control, Paul, like Ghosh, struggled to gain the trust of the agitating students.

‘Paul is missing, supposed to be guardian’

On Wednesday, tensions at RG Kar Medical College reached a critical point as medical students marched from the CGO Complex (CBI office) to Swasthya Bhavan, demanding that the new principal be removed.

The Times of India report said, that despite assuming the role, Paul had only visited the campus once, choosing instead to work from West Bengal Swasthya Bhavan (West Bengal Health Department) for the past nine days. Her absence, particularly after the August 15 vandalism incident, drew significant criticism from students.

A junior doctor expressed frustration to PTI, “Our newly-appointed principal Dr. Suhrita Paul has gone missing. She is supposed to be our guardian, but she has not turned up at the campus since the night the hospital was vandalised. We have heard that she is operating out of Swasthya Bhavan. So we are headed there to find her out.”

Carrying placards, banners, and posters, the protestors began their foot march. They placed their demands with Principal Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam and other top Health Department officials at Swasthya Bhavan, which included removal of Paul and three other hospital officials.

“We are scared after the rape-murder of a colleague and the vandalism at our hospital. In these trying times, we attempted to flag our concerns several times, but the new principal, Suhrita Pal, didn’t show up. If she has no willingness to even come to the institution, she better resign,” one of the protesting students told The Times of India.

After hearing their concerns, Nigam accepted their demands, stating, “We want normalcy to be back and healthcare services to be regularised. Security arrangements have also been enhanced.”

In response to these developments, the West Bengal government appointed Paul as head of Barasat Medical College and named Manas Kumar Bandhopadhyay as the new principal of RG Kar Medical College.

Along with Paul’s removal, the newly-appointed medical superintendent and vice-principal, Bulbul Mukhopadhyay, and the head of RG Kar’s Chest Medicine Department, Dr. Arunabha Datta Chaudhuri, were also transferred.

Dr. Saptarshi Chatterjee has been appointed as the new vice-principal, while Mukhopadhyay and Chaudhuri have been reassigned to other positions within the medical college.

With input from agencies