The CBI on Thursday filed an appeal in the Calcutta High Court, challenging the life imprisonment sentence awarded by the trial court to Sanjoy Roy, who was convicted of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Sources in the central probe agency said that it would seek death sentence since the case was the “rarest of the rare” cases.
The agency’s plea seeking death penalty for Roy was turned down by the trial court, where Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das said that the crime did not fall under the “rarest of the rare” category.
The CBI’s decision to challenge the trial court’s sentencing came hours after it objected to the West Bengal government’s plea in the High Court seeking death penalty for Sanjoy Roy.
The CBI submitted that only the victim’s family, the investigating agency, or the convict could appeal to a higher court. The state government, on the other hand, argued that the incident took place in a state hospital, and that law and order is a state subject.
The Division Bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi, while hearing the arguments of the CBI and the state, observed that the court would like to hear the victim’s family and the convict Sanjoy Roy’s side before deciding whether to allow the state to plead for the death penalty.
Raising the question of whether the West Bengal government has the right to challenge the judgment of a lower court in the R G Kar rape and murder case, the Division bench said: “We want to hear the family of the victim. Was the victim represented at the trial? Was the accused also represented in the trial court?”.
The victim’s father, meanwhile, told mediapersons that he was not informed by the state government about its decision to challenge the trial court sentencing. “The state did not inform us. No service copy was given to us regarding what the state is filing. We have got the order copy, and we will decide on what will be the next course of action after speaking with our lawyer. The state did not show any eagerness during the investigation, but why they are showing so much eagerness now is my question,” the father of the deceased doctor said.
On Monday, Additional Sessions Judge Anirban Das of Sealdah court had awarded Sanjoy Roy life imprisonment “until his last breath”. Roy, a 35-year-old civic volunteer, was convicted on Saturday under Sections 64 (punishment for rape), 66 (punishment for causing death or a persistent vegetative state to a woman), and 101 (1) (murder) in a ruling that came five months after the August 9 incident sparked outrage and triggered massive protests of doctors in West Bengal.
Kolkata: The lawyer of Sanjoy Roy, the RG Kar rape-murder convict, on Wednesday complained to the High Court that they were not allowed to meet him in the Presidency Correctional Home, and as a result they were unable to get Roy to sign the vakalatnama.
The High Court then ordered the state to ensure that Roy’s counsel could meet him. The matter will next be heard next Monday. ENS
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday cited paucity of time and deferred to January 29 the hearing on the suo-motu case over the RG Kar rape-murder incident. The suo-motu plea was set to be heard by the top court for the first time after the sentencing in the doctor’s rape and murder which took place on August 9 last year.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan on Wednesday said there was paucity of time, and moreover, three fresh applications were filed in the case. “We will take it up at 2 pm next Wednesday,” the CJI said.
While taking a suo motu notice of the case, the bench constituted the NTF on August 20 to formulate a protocol to ensure safety and security of medical professionals in the wake of the crime. PTI