India's top court sets up doctors' panel on workplace safety after sexual assault, murder case

India's Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday the setting up of a national task force of doctors to make recommendations on safety at their workplace, days after the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor sparked nationwide protests.

The court also asked the federal police to submit a report on Thursday on the status of its investigation into the Aug. 9 murder of the trainee doctor at a state-run hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata.

Doctors across the country have held protests and refused to see non-emergency patients following the crime as part of their action demanding a safer workplace and a swift criminal probe.

A police volunteer has been arrested and charged with the crime. Women activists say the incident has highlighted how women in India continue to suffer from sexual violence despite tougher laws brought in after the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi.

• More Indian hospitals hit by doctors' protest against alleged rape and murder of medic