Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy to life imprisonment till death in RG Kar case
Kolkata: A city trial court on Monday sentenced Sanjay Roy, the convict in the gruesome rape and murder of an-duty female doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, to life imprisonment with a fine for the crime it called “not rarest of the rare” and ordered compensation for the victim's family.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her dissatisfaction with the quantum of punishment as she had demanded the death penalty for the culprit. Many others have also been unhappy with the degree of punishment and protested against it openly. Among them are the victim's parents, who rejected the compensation.
The uproar, which unfolded nationwide after the sensational crime on August 9 last year, became alive after first additional district judge Anirban Das of the Sealdah court awarded Sanjay Roy a term of life in jail till death while declaring the quantum of punishment as he found the crime “not rarest of the rare”.
Interestingly, the counsel of the CBI, which probed the case, and the lawyer of the victim's parents called the crime “rarest of rare” while praying for the death penalty to the convict. When the judge wanted to know from Sanjay about his views before announcing punishment, the convict said: “I haven't done anything. I have been framed. Lot of things were destroyed. If I had done that, my rudraksha would have come off my neck. Now you decide whether I have been framed or not.”
The judge also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict and directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 17 lakhs (Rs 10 lakhs for death and Rs 7 lakhs for the rape on duty) to the victim's parents. The victim's parents, who were present in the courtroom, told the judge with folded hands that they wanted justice, and not any compensation for their daughter. They said: “We don't want compensation. We want justice.”
The judge told them: “I don’t think money can compensate for any death. It was the liability of the state to protect your daughter as she was on duty. This is a statutory provision. If you take it, you can use it. I ordered whatever I felt. You can move the higher court.”
The couple also wondered later: “If this was not a ‘rarest of the rare’ crime, which one can it be?” The junior doctors erupted in protest outside the court over its failure gto award the death penalty to the convict. Ms Banerjee, who was in Murshidabad, said: “I am not satisfied with the punishment. It was a serious case.”
She added: “All of us demanded the death sentence. But the court ordered life imprisonment. If the case was in our hands, we could have ensured an order of death penalty already. I don't know the details of the case because it was dealt with by the CBI. The case was forcefully taken away from us. We only had said then that the case could be given to the CBI, since we wanted justice, if we won't be able to do anything.”
Her MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee observed: “There is no point in wasting taxpayers’ money to keep someone lifelong in jail. Hanging is the only way.”