RG Kar rape-murder: Calcutta HC nixes WB govt’s appeal against life term sentence to convict, admits CBI plea

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected the West Bengal government's appeal challenging the trial court’s life term till death sentence awarded to RG Kar hospital rape-murder case convict Sanjay Roy, while admitting the same plea of the CBI.

Both the CBI and the state government filed appeals before the high court seeking capital punishment for Roy, the sole convict in the RG Kar rape-murder case. The division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Sabbar Rashidi said that since the CBI conducted the investigation and was the prosecution agency, its appeal challenging the quantum of sentence is being admitted for hearing.

The state government had argued before the high court that apart from the central agency, it too can move an appeal claiming inadequacy of sentence given by the trial court. 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, sparking outrage across the country.

Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police the next day. The Calcutta High Court later handed over the investigation to the CBI. The central agency filed the charge sheet before the trial court on October 7 and the charge against Roy was framed on November 4.

The trial court on January 20 sentenced Roy to life imprisonment till the end of his natural life, after convicting him in the case. Both the CBI and the state government separately appealed to the Calcutta High Court, challenging the sentence awarded to Roy and praying for capital punishment for him.

The bench on January 27 reserved its order on the admission of two appeals. The parents of the victim doctor and the convict were represented before the court by their respective lawyers as per the earlier direction of the division bench.