India’s top court has ordered a national task force of doctors to make recommendations on safety to be established. It comes after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata sparked nationwide protests.

India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a nine-member task force should be set up to map out regulations governing safe work spaces for doctors.

The decree came days after the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor that led to protests across the country.

What the court said

The judge said the task force should work out ways to make hospitals and medical campuses safer for doctors.

The Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud expressed deep concern over the “horrific” rape and murder at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. 

“Protecting safety of doctors and women doctors is a matter of national interest and principle of equality. The nation cannot await another rape for it to take some,” Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said.

Doctors have held protests and candlelight marches across India — even refusing care for non-emergency patients  — since August 9 when the killing took place in the capital of India’s West Bengal state. Medics said the assault highlighted the vulnerability of healthcare professionals.

The court requested all doctors abstaining from work across the country after trainee doctor’s rape-murder to resume work at the earliest opportunity. It assured doctors their concerns being addressed

Judges also ordered federal paramilitary force to provide security at the Kolkata hospital where trainee doctor was fatally attacked.

They criticized the state of West Bengal’s government over a delay in filing a report about the rape and killing. A police volunteer has been charged with the crime.

Lingering problem despite tougher sanctions

Those demonstrating are demanding justice, saying women in India continue to face rising violence despite tough laws introduced after the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in Delhi.

That attack inspired harsher penalties for such crimes, with fast-track courts established dedicated to rape cases. India’s government also introduced the death penalty for repeat offenders.

However, sexual violence against women has remained a widespread problem in India.