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Cal HC reserves order on admission of state govt, CBI appeal in RG Kar case
Both the CBI and the state government separately prayed for capital punishment for the convict in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case
The Calcutta high court on Monday reserved its order on the admission of appeals made by the West Bengal government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking death penalty for RG Kar Hospital rape and murder convict Sanjay Roy.
On January 20, the additional district and sessions judge at Sealdah court sentenced Roy to life imprisonment. The court declined to award death sentence holding that the crime wasn’t a rarest of the rare.
A division bench of Calcutta high court comprising Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi questioned why two authorities had approached the court with same appeal.
“Both the state government and the CBI moved the court demanding death penalty for the convict. The CBI, however, opposed the state’s appeal,” said a lawyer present in the court room.
The federal agency stated that the entire investigation was conducted by it and hence only the central government was authorised to sanction an appeal against the order.
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The state’s counsel, however, submitted that though the central government could appeal against orders in cases which were investigated by central agencies, the state was also empowered to maintain an appeal in such cases.
“The state government said that the investigation was done by it in the initial stage before the case was handed over to the CBI by the Calcutta high court and hence the state was competent to appeal,” a lawyer present in the court said.
The agency also submitted that in such cases, due to Section 418 of the BNSS, the state could not maintain an appeal against orders in cases which were investigated by central agencies, and that the only remedy available to the state would be to file a revision plea.
The division bench heard both sides and upon taking all materials on record, the court closed the hearing and reserved its judgment.
On August 9, 2024, a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered in RG Kar Hospital. The Kolkata Police arrested Roy, a civic volunteer. The case was handed over to the CBI on August 13.
