Kolkata rape and murder convict Sanjay Roy was sentenced to life imprisonment (jail till death) by Sealdah Court on Monday. Against this decision, Mamata government reached Calcutta High Court on Tuesday.
On behalf of the Bengal government, Advocate General Kishore Dutta filed a petition against the decision of Sealdah Court. It said- Life imprisonment of convict Sanjay Roy is not correct. He should be hanged.
Justice Debangshu Basak of Calcutta High Court has accepted the petition. However, information about when its hearing will begin is not yet known.
Sealdah Court judge Anirban Das, while pronouncing the sentence on Monday, at 2:45 pm, said, ‘This is not the rarest of rare cases. Therefore, death penalty cannot be given.’
After this, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee wrote on social media X- I am fully confident that this is the rarest of rare cases, for which death penalty should be given. How can the court say that this is not the rarest of rare cases?
The convict was convicted on the 164th day of the incident
Sealdah court had convicted Sanjay on 18 January. On the 164th day of the incident (20 January) a 160 page verdict was given on the sentence. CBI and the victim’s family had demanded death penalty.
Why was Sanjay not given death penalty, told the convict’s lawyer
Sanjay Roy’s lawyer Senjuti Chakraborty told Dainik Bhaskar, ‘We had argued with the court to keep in mind the Supreme Court’s guidelines while pronouncing death penalty. There is a Supreme Court guideline regarding death penalty, which tells in which cases death penalty should be given and in which cases it should be avoided.”
”The Supreme Court says that when there is a possibility of rehabilitation, correction of a person, then the court should avoid giving death penalty. Death penalty should be given only when there is no possibility of the culprit reforming.”
”Whether this case is the rarest or rarest case or not, we had left it to the court. Today we argued in the court and said that there is a possibility of the culprit reforming and in this case no such evidence came forward that the culprit should be given death penalty.”
”The Supreme Court’s guideline also says that sometimes it also happens that apart from whatever evidence has come in the case, some things do not reach the court or some facts are left out due to some reason. In such a situation, someone is saved from giving death penalty.”
The victim’s family said with folded hands – we don’t want compensation
The judge said that the victim died in the hospital during duty. It is the responsibility of the state government to give compensation to the victim’s family. The court fixed a compensation of 10 lakhs for the death of the doctor and 7 lakhs for rape. The parents of the trainee doctor present in the court said with folded hands that we do not want compensation, we want justice.
On this, the judge said – I have decided this compensation according to the law. You can use it as you wish. Do not look at this amount as compensation for the rape and murder of your daughter.
Victim’s parents said – will go to High Court against the decision
The parents of the trainee doctor have said that they are not satisfied with the decision of the Sessions Court to sentence the convict Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment. A doctor on duty was raped and murdered. Why is this not the rarest of rare cases. He claimed that the investigation has not been done properly. Many people have been saved. We will go to the High Court after getting a copy of the decision from the Sessions Court.
Sanjay is guilty under sections 64, 66 and 103 (1) of the Indian Penal Code (BNS)…
1. Section 64 (Rape): Provision of minimum 10 years imprisonment and maximum life imprisonment.
2. Section 66 (causing death of the victim or rendering him unconscious): Provision of minimum 20 years of punishment, which can be increased to life imprisonment.
3. Section 103(1) (murder): Provision of death penalty or life imprisonment.
Basis of judgment Forensic report
The court made the forensic report of the crime scene the basis of punishment, which provided evidence of Sanjay Roy’s involvement in this case. Sanjay’s DNA was found at the crime scene and on the body of the victim doctor.
Trainee doctor raped and murdered on the night of 8-9 August last year
A trainee doctor was raped and murdered on the night of 8-9 August in RG Kar Hospital. On the morning of 9 August, the body of the doctor was found in the seminar hall. On the basis of CCTV footage, the police arrested a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy on 10 August. Protests took place across the country, including Kolkata, regarding the incident. Health services were stalled in Bengal for more than 2 months.
CBI started the investigation on the order of the High Court
After the incident on August 9, the doctors of RG Kar Hospital and the victim’s family demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter, but Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not order the investigation. After the High Court’s order, the investigation was handed over to the CBI on August 13. After this, CBI started the investigation afresh.
3 were made accused, 2 got bail
Apart from accused Sanjay Roy, former principal of the medical college Sandeep Ghosh was also made an accused in the case, but CBI could not file a charge sheet against Ghosh within 90 days, due to which Sealdah Court granted bail to Ghosh in this case on December 13. Apart from this, former in-charge of Tala police station Abhijit Mandal was also granted bail for not filing the charge sheet.
Earlier, on August 25, the CBI, with the help of the Central Forensic Team, had conducted a polygraph test of Sanjay in Kolkata’s Presidency Jail. The officials questioned him for about 3 hours. Apart from Sanjay, 9 people were also subjected to polygraph tests. These included former principal of RG Kar, Sandeep Ghosh, ASI Anup Dutta, 4 fellow doctors, a volunteer and 2 guards.
Sanjay was caught with the help of earphones and DNA
The task force arrested the accused Sanjay Roy within 6 hours of the start of the investigation. Apart from CCTV, the police had found a broken Bluetooth earphone from the seminar hall. It was connected to the accused’s phone. The victim’s blood was found on Sanjay’s jeans and shoes.
Sanjay’s DNA matched the evidence found at the spot. The 5 injury marks found on Sanjay’s body were inflicted on him during the 24 to 48 hours. This could be a blunt force injury, which may have occurred while he was defending himself from the victim. Through this, the police was successful in catching Sanjay.
3 What was found in the investigation…
1. CBI had said – trainee doctor was not gang-raped
CBI filed a charge sheet in the Calcutta High Court on 7 October 2024, in which Kolkata Police volunteer Sanjay was named as the only accused. The agency said that the trainee doctor was not gang-raped.
The charge sheet included statements of 100 witnesses, 12 polygraph test reports, CCTV footage, forensic reports, mobile call details and location. It has also been said that the semen sample and blood found from the victim’s body matched with the accused.
At the same time, the small hair found at the crime scene also matched with the accused’s hair after forensic investigation. Sanjay’s earphone was connected to mobile Bluetooth. This was also considered an important evidence.
2. No evidence of scuffle on the mattress in forensic report
A report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) came out on December 24 in the rape-murder case of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata. In which there were many sensational revelations. The 12-page report said that no evidence was found in the seminar hall that would show that the victim was raped and then murdered there.
The last lines of the 12th page of the report read – No evidence of struggle was found at the place where the body of the trainee doctor was found. There were no marks of any kind of scuffle on the mattress on which the body was lying.
The accused Sanjay Roy used to be posted at the hospital’s police post
Sanjay started working as a volunteer for the Disaster Management Group in Kolkata Police in 2019. After this he went to the Welfare Cell. Due to a good network, he got a house in the fourth battalion of Kolkata Police. Because of this house, he got a job in RG Kar Hospital. He was often posted at the hospital’s police post, which gave him access to all departments.
According to media reports, Sanjay’s many marriages were unsuccessful. Roy told the interrogating officers that he had visited the red-light area twice a few hours before he allegedly brutalised the young doctor.
