Kolkata doctor rape-murder verdict: Court awards life term to convict Sanjoy Roy, rejects CBI demand for death penalty

Accused Sanjay Roy has been found guilty by a sessions court. (File photo)

A Kolkata court on Monday pronounced life term for Sanjay Roy, convicted of raping and murdering an on-duty doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the accused.

The court said the case does not fall under the "rarest of the rare" category.

"Sanjay Roy has been sentenced to life imprisonment till death. A fine has also been imposed under 3 sections of BNS on the convict. The court directed the state to give compensation of Rs 17 lakhs to the victim's family," advocate Rehman told ANI.

The parents of the victim however have denounced the compensation. "We don't want compensation, we want justice," they told the court judge, as reported by ANI.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in the court that the crime committed by Roy was amongst the "rarest of rare cases" and that he should be awarded a death penalty for the same. The CBI also mentioned that the trainee doctor – the victim in the case, was an asset to society and was a meritorious student.

This came as the court asked the CBI for its views on the punishment that should be awarded to Roy.

Responding to the CBI, the lawyer for accused said this was not the rarest of rare cases. "They (the CBI) mentioned this was a rarest of rare cases, but this was not. You have to bring evidence that this person cannot be reformed since the Supreme Court has spoken about reform," the accused’s lawyer argued.

However, Roy claimed his innocence and stated that he was not involved in the incident. "I have not done anything, neither rape nor murder. I am being falsely implicated. You have seen everything. I am innocent. I already told you that I was tortured. They made me sign whatever they wanted," he said.

Meanwhile, the parents of the victim pressed for a death penalty.

“The movement of this person that night showed where he was going. He has been found guilty," the lawyer for the doctor’s parents said, referring to Sanjay Roy.

Roy was pronounced guilty of the rape and murder of an on-duty medic of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. The charges under which Roy has been convicted entail a minimum sentence of life imprisonment, while the maximum can be capital punishment.

Roy's mother, who had been reticent to speak to the media after the court convicted Roy on January 18, told reporters that being a woman and a mother of three daughters she can feel the anguish and pain of the victim's mother.

"If the court decides to hang him to death, I don't have any objection as his crime has been proved in the eye of the law. I will cry alone but accept it as a quirk of fate, something willed by destiny," she was quoted as saying by PTI.

Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was arrested on August 10, 2024, a day after the 31-year-old medic’s body was found in the seminar room of the hospital.

Found guilty of sexually assaulting the doctor and throttling her to death, Roy was convicted on Saturday by the judge under Sections 64, 66 and 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Section 64 (rape) of the BNS entails a punishment of not less than 10 years and can go up to life term. Section 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim) provides for punishment of not less than 20 years that may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life, or with death.

Section 103(1) (murder) of BNS provides for the death penalty or imprisonment for life to a person convicted of the crime.