Mamata directs CCTV cover and photo ID cards after sexual assaults reported in the State run hospitals

After back-to-back incidents of assault inside State-run hospitals, the West Bengal government on Saturday (October 25, 2025) held a meeting where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her anguish over CCTV monitoring and directed that security staff in the hospitals are not allowed to enter without proper photo identification cards.

While the rape and murder of a doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024 had triggered massive protests, several incidents, including threats and sexual assault on doctors, hospital staff, and patients, had surfaced in state-run hospitals in Kolkata and districts.

On October 20, a female doctor was assaulted by a patient’s family at Uluberia Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Government Medical College and Hospital. The accused men, one of them identified as a police home guard, were accused of threatening to rape the doctor and physically assaulting her inside the hospital. 

Two days later, on October 22, a minor girl was allegedly sexually assaulted in the State Government’s SSKM Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, and the accused was arrested and booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who virtually participated in the meeting directed that the security staff in hospitals are not allowed to enter the premises without proper photo identification cards. Various private organizations are responsible for security in different hospitals and have access to the hospital premises.

Sources in the State government said that Ms. Banerjee expressed displeasure over CCTV ‘monitoring’ in the meeting and raised the question of whether the CCTVs that are working are being properly monitored. Along with the Chief Minister, State’s Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The Chief Secretary gave six guidelines to the officials which included police verification of security personnel, proper maintenance of attendance books, preparation of work rosters, and sending daily reports to the State’s Health Department.

Despite the State government promising the protesting doctors after the R G Kar tragedy to overhaul the security of State-run hospitals, the back-to back incidents of assault inside hospital premises have put the Trinamool Congress government in a difficult position. At a state-run hospital in Islampur a Trinamool Congress leader was caught on camera threatening a nursing staff of the hospital. Islampur Municipality chairman Kanhailal Agarwal along with others was seen shouting at a group of nursing staff.

Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari accused the Mamata Banerjee government of failing to protect women in the State. “I would urge the women in the state to say-‘Amader Para, TMC Tara’ (remove TMC from our locality), BJP will restore the dignity of women here when it comes to power,” Mr. Adhikari said during a rally in Uttar Dinajpur.