The Supreme Court on Thursday directed authorities not to take any coercive action against doctors protesting the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital if they resumed their duties, Live Law reported.

The court had on Sunday taken up the case on its own amid growing outrage about the crime. The 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead at the medical institute on August 9.

At Thursday’s hearing, resident doctors from the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in Nagpur told a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that protesting doctors were being marked absent by their hospital authorities.

The doctors were also not being allowed to appear for examinations, the counsel added.

Chandrachud then urged the doctors to return to work, saying that the protests would affect those who are in need of public health services. Patients get slots after waiting for several months in premier hospitals like the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, he added.

“Let them all return to work,” Chandrachud said, according to Live Law. “How will the public health administrative structure run if they don’t resume work?”

Later during the hearing, the court said that doctors have expressed apprehensions about action being taken against some of them for protesting.

“We are expecting that in compliance with the assurance given to the court, the doctors will join the duties,” the court ordered. “Let there be no coercive action against doctors after they come back to work after the date of today’s order for any protest that happened before the date of today’s order.”

The court had also urged the protesting doctors to return to their duties at the previous hearing on Tuesday.

Describing the working shifts of resident doctors across the country as “inhuman”, the court asked the National Task Force it constituted on Monday to streamline and regulate the working hours of medical professionals.

“We are deeply concerned about the inhuman working hours of resident doctors across the country,” the court said. “Some doctors work 36-hour shifts.”

On Monday, the court set up the National Task Force saying that it was concerned about the “virtual absence of conditions of safety for young doctors in public hospitals, especially women doctors who are more vulnerable because of the nature of work and gender”.

Doctors associations in Delhi call off strike

After the Supreme Court’s hearing on Thursday, the Resident Doctors Association at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences called off their strike against the Kolkata rape and murder.

“In the interest of the nation and in the spirit of public service, the RDA, AIIMS, New Delhi, has decided to call off 11-day strike,” the group said in a statement. “This decision comes in response to the appeal and direction of the Supreme Court. We extend our sincere appreciation to the Supreme Court for taking cognisance of the RG Kar Medical College incident and addressing the broader issue of safety and security for healthcare workers across the country.”

Their counterparts at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Indira Gandhi Hospital in the capital followed suit, reported The Times of India and ANI.

“In view of the developments with respect to our demands, and our concerns being addressed by the Supreme Court, we hereby declare the strike to be withheld,” the doctors association at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital said.

Also read: Rape, murder of Kolkata doctor highlight failure of workplace safety provisions for women