Kolkata: A Kolkata court Monday handed life imprisonment to sole accused Sanjay Roy for the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last August, noting that this was “not the rarest of rare cases”.
Last Saturday—63 days after the trial concluded—Judge Anirban Das of the Sealdah Court had pronounced Roy guilty of the crime.
While pronouncing the quantum of punishment Monday, the judge said, “Sanjay Roy you have been accused under sections 64, 66 and 103(1) of BNS act. The CBI sought the death penalty. Your lawyer argued against the death penalty.”
“This is not the rarest of rare cases,” said Judge Anirban Das while dictating the sentencing. He also informed Roy that he can appeal before the high court against the sentencing.
The court also directed the state to give a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the trainee doctor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have questioned the Kolkata court’s ruling.
“Life imprisonment and a 50,000-rupee fine for Sanjoy Roy, accused in the RG Kar rape and murder case is a travesty of justice. The verdict must be appealed. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee must stop shielding the criminal. Agencies also need to investigate the role of the then Kolkata Commissioner and the chief minister in the destruction of evidence,” wrote Amit Malviya, the head of BJP IT Cell.
“Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done,” he posted on social media platform X.
Courtroom 210 buzzed with anticipation in the moments leading up to the sentencing, as a crowd jostled to secure a place inside.
At precisely 12:34 p.m., Judge Anirban Das entered and took his seat, addressing Sanjay Roy with a reminder of his guilty verdict and the severe penalties awaiting him for his heinous crime. The judge briefly revisited Saturday’s judgment before asking Roy if he had any final words.
Dressed in a gray and orange hoodie, Roy stood composed as he again pleaded not guilty. The judge noted that Roy had maintained his innocence throughout the 63-day trial. However, when given the chance to speak on the matter of his punishment, Roy chose to remain silent.
Defense lawyer Sejuti Chakraborty argued that the death penalty should be reserved for the “rarest of rare” cases, citing several Supreme Court judgments to support her stance. In response, CBI counsel Partha Sarathi Dutta contended that the RG Kar rape and murder qualified as a “rarest of rare” case, emphasising that awarding the death penalty to the accused was necessary to uphold societal faith in justice.
During the hearing, the judge also asked Roy if he had been in contact with any family members since his arrest. He replied that he has been in touch with his mother, but no one from his family has visited or reached out to him since his detention.
The court then adjourned proceedings until 2.45 pm.
Based on forensic evidence presented by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the judge had read out the charges Saturday against the former Kolkata Police civic volunteer—Sections 64 (rape), 66 (causes death of a woman or causes woman to be in a persistent vegetative state) and 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The minimum penalty for these crimes is life imprisonment and the maximum, death. “You (Sanjay Roy) had entered the hospital, attacked, raped and murdered the victim,” the judge said Saturdat, as he declared him guilty.
Roy, wearing the same gray and orange hoodie, insisted he was innocent, claiming he was being framed for the crime. “I wear a rudraksh mala…had I committed the crime, it would have been torn and scattered,” he cried out in a packed courtroom.
On Monday, before his sentencing, he reiterated that the rudraksh mala he wore served as his alibi.
The judgment Saturday, which concluded within 12 minutes, was watched by the victim’s parents from the second row in the court. With folded hands, the father told the judge, “You have bestowed our faith in the judiciary”. Then, in the first reaction to the media outside the court, he said, “We have the first step towards justice. Sanjay Roy has been held guilty; we want maximum punishment for him.”
What CBI chargesheet say?
In the 45-page CBI chargesheet, submitted before the court on 7 October last year, the CBI outlined the sequence of events that led to the gruesome crime. Around 128 witnesses were examined by the probe agency and 90 documents pertaining to the investigation were attached.
Sanjay Roy’s presence at R.G. Kar’s chest medicine department—the crime scene—had been established through CCTV footage, the CBI said. His call data and mobile location further indicated his presence on the intervening night of 8 and 9 August, when the crime took place. His DNA was found from the body of the victim during postmortem.
Further, the victim’s blood was found on Sanjay Roy’s jeans and footwear seized by the Kolkata Police, the CBI said. Even hair collected from the scene of crime had matched Roy’s.
The Kolkata Police nabbed Roy on 10 August within 24 hours of the crime. The cops relied on a broken, wired Bluetooth headphone collected from the crime scene which paired with Roy’s phone. His medical examination at SSKM Hospital said injuries found on Roy were consistent with the marks of resistance and were fresh.
The trainee doctor’s postmortem report said the cause of death was due to asphyxia as a combined effect of throttling and smothering. The victim suffered forceful penetrative sexual assault.
Her body contained Sanjay Roy’s saliva, which was confirmed by DNA profiling. The CBI chargesheet further stated the inquest of the victim was consistent with the postmortem report. The CBI had also sought expert opinion from AIIMS-Delhi and AIIMS Kalyani to confirm its findings.
What happened that night
On 8 August, the victim left her residence at 8.10 am to go to work at RG Kar Hospital. Around 10.15 pm, she ordered dinner from Zomato for five other junior doctors and interns. Around midnight, they had dinner at the seminar room while watching Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw performance at the Paris Olympics before heading back to their duties.
Only the victim stayed back in the seminar room to rest on a mattress. In the early hours of 9 August, at around 9.35 am, a junior doctor found her lying unconscious in a semi-naked state. He had gone to look for her after she didn’t show up for rounds.
Before the crime, Roy, a volunteer linked to the police welfare board, had visited a red-light area in Chetla along with another civic volunteer, whose cousin was admitted at R.G. Kar hospital.
The two walked in and out of the hospital twice, and at around 4.03 am on 9 August, Roy reached the chest medicine department alone in an inebriated state. The junior doctor was still sleeping there.
Roy committed the heinous crime and left the seminar room at 4.32 am to return to his barrack.
The CBI also said in its chargesheet that it was also investigating the roles of the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Dr Sandip Ghosh and police officer Abhijit Mondal in hushing up the matter and destroying evidence. Both were arrested in September, but were granted bail last month after the CBI failed to submit its chargesheet against the accused.
Ghosh, however, remains in jail as he is also being investigated for perpetuating financial irregularities in the hospital.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: How Mamata Banerjee weathered RG Kar storm to blow aside Opposition in Bengal assembly bypolls
Mamata banerjee won the case
Justice lost!!!