Kolkata Court sentences Sanjay Roy to life in RG Kar trainee doctor rape-murder case

The Sealdah Court sentenced Sanjoy Roy, the accused in the Kolkata trainee doctor rape and murder case to life imprisonment. The court was of the view that the incident was not ‘rarest of rare’ case to grant death penalty for the convict.

Pronouncing the verdict, Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court Judge Anirban Das sentenced Roy to life imprisonment considering it was not a 'rarest of rare' case. The court also ordered the West Bengal government to pay Rs 17 lakh as compensation to victim’s family. 

Earlier, during the hearing on the verdict, the CBI’s lawyer had pleaded for the highest penalty for the convict, calling the crime "rarest of the rare". "We pray for the highest penalty to maintain people's faith in society," the agency's counsel told the court, PTI reported. 

Roy claimed he was being framed in the case and he has not committed the crime. Roy told the court, “I have not done anything, still, I have been held guilty. I have not committed any crime.” 

The court found Roy guilty of the crime on Saturday under sections 64, 66, and 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The bench had said minimum punishment would be life imprisonment and maximum punishment would be death penalty. Roy’s counsel argued that the crime did not warrant the death penalty as per directions issued by the Supreme Court regarding awarding the death sentence.

The victim, a second-year postgraduate trainee doctor from the chest medicine department of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was discovered dead in the seminar hall on August 9 last year. Initially, the Kolkata police led the investigation and arrested Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata police, within 24 hours. However, the victim’s parents and junior doctors at RG Kar raised concerns about the police’s handling of the case and the Calcutta High Court transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.