January 16th, 2025 – GS4

You are the Superintendent of Police (SP) of a district. Recently an incident of rape and murder of a doctor occurred in your district leading to huge public outrage. There were protests organized by the doctors’ fraternity in order to demand justice for the victim. You were trying to ensure the law and order remain intact in the district.

In the meantime media reports mentioned the perpetrator of the crime to be a civil volunteer of your department. This led to social media allegations against your department accusing the Police of favouring the accused.

Also, there were other rumours on social media like involvement of trainee doctors in the crime, renovation of the hospital to remove the evidence etc.  To add fuel to the entire scenario, reports of circulation of the pictures of the victim also came. All this led to mob violence in the city. The mob disrupted the peaceful protest of doctors and also broke the hospital equipment and beds etc. 

You received a call from the Commissioner of Police to take necessary action as the progress in resolving the case is being reported to the Chief Minister directly. 

1. Discuss the ethical issues involved in the case.

2. What course of action would you take to maintain law and order?

3. What steps have been taken by the government to ensure safety of women at the workplace? Suggest some additional steps that can be taken.