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Calcutta HC to hear RG Kar Hospital rape-murder convict Sanjoy Roy’s plea in Sept
Roy, a former Kolkata police civic volunteer, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail for the rape and murder of the doctor in August last year
KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court will hear a petition filed by Sanjoy Roy challenging his conviction for the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital in September, his lawyer said.
Roy, a former Kolkata police civic volunteer, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail for the rape and murder of the doctor in August last year that triggered nationwide outrage. In Kolkata, tens of thousands of people repeatedly flooded the streets to demand justice for the victim.
Senior lawyer Kaushik Gupta said Roy was innocent.
“He was falsely framed in the case to shield the actual culprits. We moved the petition earlier. The court admitted it on Tuesday…. The bench directed the matter to appear in the monthly list of September,” Gupta said.
A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi said Roy’s plea against the conviction would be considered along with the appeal filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking enhancement of Roy’s punishment from life imprisonment to the death penalty.
Roy, 34, was held guilty under Sections 66 (rape), 64 (causing injury resulting in death) and 103 (1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sealdah sessions court.
The state government and CBI, which investigated the case, later moved the high court seeking death penalty for Roy after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed dissatisfaction over the quantum of sentence.
