Not rarest of rare case: Court hands out Roy jail till death
Five months after the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sent shockwaves across the nation, a court in Sealdah on Monday sentenced prime accused Sanjay Roy to imprisonment for the remainder of his life. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict and directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
Editorial: letdown for Abhaya
The court rejected the demand for the death penalty saying it was not a “rarest of the rare” crime. “The CBI prayed for the death penalty. The defence lawyer prayed that a jail term be given… This crime does not fall under the rarest of the rare category,” Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das said.
“The court must resist the temptation to bow to public pressure or emotional appeals and instead focus on delivering a verdict that upholds the integrity of the legal system and serves the broader interests of justice,” the order read.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was not satisfied with the verdict. “All of us demanded the death penalty, but the court gave life imprisonment. The case was forcibly taken away from us. Had it been with the (Kolkata) police, we would have ensured that he was awarded the death sentence,” she claimed.
Earlier in his final statement, Roy claimed in the court that he was innocent and had been “wrongly held guilty”. “I am being framed and have not committed any crime. I have not done anything, and still, I have been held guilty,” Roy told the court ahead of sentencing in the case. Roy was convicted under Sections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state of the victim) and 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The victim’s parents said they were not satisfied with the verdict and would move a higher court seeking justice. “We are shocked. How can this not be the rarest of the rare cases? An on-duty doctor was raped and murdered. We are dismayed. There was a larger conspiracy behind this crime,” the mother said.
