Read Time: 04 minutes

Synopsis

The Calcutta High Court on Monday, January 27, 2025, took up the appeals filed by the West Bengal government and the CBI challenging the life sentence awarded to Sanjoy Roy, the convict in the RG Kar rape-murder case. Both the state government and the CBI have sought an enhancement of his sentence to the death penalty.

A division bench comprising Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi reserved its verdict on the admissibility of these appeals.

During the proceedings, the victim’s parents, through their counsel, conveyed that they do not support capital punishment for Roy. Their concern is that his execution might erase crucial evidence that could implicate others in the crime.

On January 20, the Additional District and Sessions Court, Sealdah, sentenced Sanjoy Roy to life imprisonment  till the end of his natural life after finding him guilty.

The Sealdah court, while ruling that the rape and murder of the medic did not meet the stringent standards of the "rarest of the rare" category, had observed that justice must rise above the primitive instinct of retribution—an eye for an eye.

Roy was arrested by Kolkata Police on August 10, 2024 following the discovery of the victim's body from the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Against the incident, during a nationwide protest by doctors against the rape and murder of the trainee doctor, a mob of 7,000 people armed with lathis and hockey sticks gathered at RG Kar Hospital in the middle of the night on August 14, 2024. They vandalized the emergency ward and other areas.

The Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance of the brutal rape and murder of the woman. When the then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud led bench heard the matter on August 20, 2024 it pulled up the Kolkata state machinery for the manner in which the matter was handled.