The Calcutta High Court Wednesday questioned whether the West Bengal government has the right to challenge the judgment of a lower court in the RG Kar rape and murder case.
The division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak, 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 Sanjay Roy’s side before deciding whether to allow the state to plead for the death penalty.
On Tuesday, the West Bengal government moved the Calcutta High Court, challenging the Sealdah court’s sentence of life imprisonment for Roy.
“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 bench of Justice Basak said.
The CBI had submitted that only the victim’s family, the investigating agency, or the convict can appeal to a higher court, while the state argued that the incident had happened in a state hospital, and that law and order is a state subject.
Meanwhile, Roy’s counsel alleged that the officials did not allow them to meet him in the Presidency Correctional Home, and that they were hence unable to get Roy to sign a Vakalatnama.
The court ordered the state to ensure that Roy’s counsel can meet him. The matter will next be heard on Monday, January 27, once the court can “hear all sides”. Meanwhile, the victim’s father told mediapersons, “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 talking to our lawyer. The state did not show any eagerness during the investigation, but why they are showing so much eagerness now is my question.”
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.