The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has appealed to the Calcutta High Court, seeking death penalty for convict in the RG Kar Hospital rape and murder case Sanjay Roy.
The development comes a day after a CBI court sentenced Roy to life imprisonment and slapped a fine of ₹50,000 on him for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor. He was convicted by the CBI court on January 18.
“I think this is not a case of rarest of the rare. That’s why I am giving you imprisonment till your death,” the judge said.
While giving the verdict, CBI court judge Anirban Das slammed the role of the hospital authorities including former principal Sandip Ghosh. He accused the hospital authorities of attempting to cover up the victim's death as a suicide to avoid accountability.
He further questioned the Kolkata Police's initial probe in the case and also highlighted the fact that the victim's parents were not allowed to see their daughter. Furthermore, Judge Das questioned why the FIR was registered after 11:30 pm when the incident was reported on August 9 morning last year.
Not just this, Judge Anirban Das also ordered the state government to offer a financial assistance of ₹17 lakh to the victim's parents. The grieving couple, however, refused this and said that they only want justice.
During the final argument, the convict pleaded he was framed, with the court saying that the charges against him were proven. Meanwhile, the convict's mother has kept herself confined to her home and refused to meet reporters to comment on the verdict.
When reporters gathered near her house, the woman said she is "ashamed of everything" and requested them to leave her alone. His elder sister said the role of "others involved in the crime" must also be probed and all should get exemplary punishment.
His mother said that she has no objection if the court decides to hang her son to death since his crime has been proven 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 newswire PTI.
The heinous crime triggered nationwide outrage and prolonged protests in West Bengal and elsewhere in the world.