Kolkata, Jan 20 (UNI) Sealdah Civil & Criminal Court's Additional Session Judge Justice Anirban Das on Monday handed a life sentence to Civic Volunteer attached to Kolkata Police Sanjay Roy in the 31-year-old woman doctor rape and murder of 31-year-old woman doctor on August 9, 2024.
Advocate Anisur Rahman told Reporters outside the court that the court handed a life sentence to Sanjay Roy under sections 64, 66, and 103 A and directed the West Bengal government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the victim's family.
The judge while pronouncing the verdict said the crime was not the rarest of the rare crimes and directed the West Bengal government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the bereaved family.
The parents of the victim told the judge that they did not want compensation but justice for their daughter.
The judge said his order came under the rules and " It is up to you what you do with the money".
The court convicted Roy on Saturday after about two months of high-profile hearings and examining some 50 witnesses.
The judge announced the quantum of punishment of a life sentence on Monday even as the CBI counsel demanded the strongest and most severe punishment and described the crime as the rarest of the rare.
The court, however, concluded that the crime was not the rarest of the rare.
Courtroom number 210 was cordoned off, and guard rails were set up outside the court where hundreds of people, especially the medical professionals were staging protest demonstrations despite the restriction from the authorities with over 500 police personnel on tight vigil.
The CBI counsel strongly advocated for the death penalty, citing Supreme Court guidelines on capital punishment. Emphasizing the gravity of the crime, the CBI stated “Creating such an offence is a rarest of rare crimes.” “Two sections
give death. This case comes under arrest of rare punishment be given so that it sets precedence and brings confidence in society,” the CBI counsel told the court.
The crime sent a shock wave across the country and beyond after the 31-year-old 2nd-year post-graduate trainee resident doctor was found raped and killed at the state-owned R G Kar hospital in North Kolkata on August 9, 2024.
The victim’s body was found in the seminar room of the hospital.
The high-profile trial in camera started on November 11 as the case was transferred to the CBI by the Calcutta High Court on August 14 from Kolkata Police.
The trial was completed on January 9 and on Saturday the court convicted Roy and handed a life sentence to Sanjay Roy on Monday.
UNI PC BD