The Supreme Court has established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the claims of custodial torture involving two women arrested during protests in West Bengal following the rape-murder incident at RG Kar Medical College.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing the State of West Bengal's challenge to a Calcutta High Court order that had directed a CBI investigation into the matter.

Previously, the Court had stayed the High Court's directive while issuing notice. It instructed the state government to provide a list of IPS officers, including women officers, who could be considered for inclusion in an SIT to investigate the custodial torture case, instead of the CBI.

Taking into account a list of officers furnished by the state, the Court constituted an SIT today - of officers not belonging to the State of West Bengal but serving therein. It comprises:

(1) Mr. Akash Makharia, IPS, DIG Presidency Range;

(2) Ms. Swati Bhangalia, Superintendent of Police, Howrah (Rural); and

(3) Ms. Sujata Kumari Veenapani, IPS, Deputy Commissioner (Traffic), Howrah.

As per the directions, the SIT is to immediately take over the investigation and submit weekly status reports to a bench of the Calcutta High Court, which will be specially constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court for this purpose. The SIT is also permitted to seek further directions from the bench to ensure the investigation reaches its logical conclusion.

The SIT may also involve additional police officers, if necessary, to assist in the investigation. Meanwhile, the victims are free to approach the SIT to ensure that their life and liberty are not compromised. In this regard, the SIT is required to take prompt and necessary steps to safeguard the victims' rights.

Notably, in passing the order, the Court also remarked that the routine transfer of investigations to the CBI could have a demoralizing effect on senior state police officers.

"Routine entrustment of investigation of matters to CBI not only leads to burden on the premier investigating agency of the country, it has very serious demoralizing impact on the officers of the state police. It may not be prudent to proceed on the premise that senior officers allocated to West Bengal cadre are incompetent or inefficient to hold a fair, independent and dispassionate investigation and find out the truth."

Before concluding, the Court clarified that the observations made in the challenged High Court order should not be interpreted as a comment on the allegations raised. The SIT is to proceed with the investigation independently, without being influenced by these observations.