Whether Sanjoy Roy, convicted of raping and killing a junior doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, will be awarded death sentence or life-term imprisonment will be known on Monday when Additional Sessions Judge Anirban Das of Sealdah court will pronounce the quantum of punishment.
On Saturday, the special court convicted Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, of rape and murder, nearly six months after he was arrested in the rape and murder case. “It may be a life term or even death, given the way you throttled and killed the victim,” Judge Das had remarked while delivering the verdict on Saturday.
Roy was convicted under sections 64, 66 and 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
While 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. The section 103(1) (murder) of BNS provides for death penalty or imprisonment for life to a person convicted of the crime.
“Death penalty is given in the rarest of rare cases. There cannot be any second thoughts on the fact that this was one of the most heinous forms of crime on a woman. It was done in a beastly manner,” senior counsel of Calcutta High Court Billwadal Bhattacharya said. “But the main question is how successful were the investigating agencies… The question remains — was only one person who has been convicted now involved? A lot of questions will remain unanswered,” Bhattacharya added.
Senior counsel Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee said, “He (Sanjoy Roy) has been declared guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence. I do not know what is the weight and value of the circumstantial evidence but at the same time it has to be appreciated that the immense pressure of the public has played a vital role in this case.”
“In RG Kar case, I do not know the weight and value of the witnesses. But when only Sanjoy Roy has been declared guilty, it appears that the standard of weights is not so high and not so strong. Till date, I feel that the death penalty is the only option. In the lower court, death sentence will be given, but when the case goes to the high court or the Supreme Court, I do not know what will be the fate of this case,” Chatterjee added.
Advocate Kaustav Bagchi said, “…it falls under the rarest of rare crime. So, the question of death penalty will definitely arise. But what we all are more concerned with is that apart from Sanjoy Roy, there are more perpetrators of the crime and they need to be booked.”
“We hope and believe that this trial has not been shoddy. We hope that the sentence given to Sanjoy will not be overturned by a higher court,” Bagchi added.
The verdict in the August 9 rape and murder case was delivered under 162 days. The CBI counsel termed it as a rarest of rare crime and sought capital punishment.
Judge Anirban Das on Saturday said that over 160-page judgment will categorically answer some questions raised by the complainant, the father of the victim.
Das said that he has criticised some activities of the police authority as well as the hospital authority in his judgment.
He said that convict Roy’s statement will be heard at 12:30 pm on Monday, and the sentence will be pronounced thereafter.
The investigation into the case was transferred from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the Calcutta High Court.