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RG Kar case: Calcutta HC rejects Bengal government's challenge to Sanjay Roy's life term, accepts CBI's plea
The state government argued that apart from the central agency, it too can move an appeal claiming inadequacy of sentence given by the trial court.
The Calcutta high court on Friday refused to admit the West Bengal government’s appeal challenging the life term sentence awarded to convict Sanjay Roy in the rape and murder case of an on-duty doctor in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
However, the high court accepted a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the matter. The CBI is the investigating agency in the case and had earlier stated that only it had the right to file the appeal.
The Mamata Banerjee government argued that apart from the central agency, it too can move an appeal claiming inadequacy of sentence given by the trial court.
The court had reserved its judgment on both the pleas on January 27.
The division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Sabbar Rashidi said that since the CBI conducted the investigation, its appeal challenging the quantum of sentence is being admitted for hearing.
An on-duty medic was raped and murdered inside the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital here on August 9 last year.
Why didn’t convict Sanjay Roy get the death sentence?
Sanjay Roy, a former civil volunteer, was last sentenced to life imprisonment until death for raping and murdering a trainee doctor inside Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last year. The sentence triggered a wave of disappointment as many were expecting the death sentence for Roy for the crime that caused national outrage. A lawyer explained the Sealdah judge's reasoning behind the decision to spare his life.
Advocate Rehman told news agency ANI that the additional judge of the sessions court reasoned that the crime can't be placed in the “rarest of the rare” category.
"Additional Judge of Sessions court, Sealdah has sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment till death to Sanjay Roy. The court directed the state government to give compensation of Rs. 17 lakhs to the victim's family. CBI had demanded capital punishment for the convict in the case. The judge said that this is not a rarest of the rare cases, hence capital punishment has not been awarded," he said.
