R.G. Kar rape and murder: quantum of sentence for convict on January 20

The mother of the former civic police volunteer who has been convicted of the gruesome crime said she has no problem if the court hangs him for the crime

A sessions court in Kolkata will pronounce on Monday (January 20, 2025) the quantum of sentence for the convict in the rape and murder of a doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The Additional District and Session Court, Sealdah on Saturday (January 18, 2025) had pronounced Sanjay Roy, a former civic police volunteer, guilty of rape and murder of a post graduate trainee doctor. Judge Anirban Das had convicted Roy under Sections 64, 66 and 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and stated that the minimum punishment in the crime will be life imprisonment and maximum will be death sentence.

Meanwhile, the parents of the deceased doctor on Sunday alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not investigate the case properly. Speaking to media persons, the parents claimed that if the CBI had properly investigated the case, then several others would have been arrested and convicted. They claimed that the CBI officials had stopped communicating with them and the investigating officer was not present in the court on Saturday when the conviction was pronounced.

Expressing hope that the irregularities in the investigation will be brought to the fore when the term of sentence will be announced, the parents said they will continue to appeal before the Calcutta High Court and Supreme Court so that the others behind the crime may be punished.

“Actions of the medical college HoD, MSVP, principal had created some confusion in my mind,” the judge said on Saturday while pronouncing the accused guilty.

Hang him if guilty: convict’s mother

Meanwhile, the mother of the former civic police volunteer who has been convicted of the gruesome crime said she has no problem if the court hangs him for the crime.

“If the court decides to hang him to death, I don’t have any objection as his crime has been proved in the eye of the law. I will cry alone but accept it as a quirk of fate, something willed by destiny,” the mother said. The 70-year-old mother who resides in a slum on Shambhunath Pandit Street in the city said that her son has not been keeping contact with her.

The parents and a section of protesters who have been hitting the streets demanding justice for the crime have been demanding capital punishment for the convict. In at least three cases involving rape and murder of minor which came to the fore after the R.G. Kar rape and murder, courts in West Bengal have awarded capital punishment to the convicts. This includes rape and murder of minors at Kultali in South 24 Parganas, Farakka in Murshidabad and Gurap in Hooghly district.

While all eyes will be on what punishment the court will pronounce for the rape and murder of the accused, doctors unions are demanding that those responsible for tampering evidence in the crime should be punished.

Joint Platform of Doctors, West Bengal in a press statement on Sunday welcomed the conviction of Sanjay Roy and said that those who are accused of directly and indirectly tampering with evidence should be investigated and brought to book.

The CBI had arrested former principal of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh and ex-officer in-charge of Tala police station Abhijit Mondal for tampering the evidence and delay in registration of the FIR but they were granted bail as the agency was not able to file a chargesheet in the case.

Published - January 19, 2025 10:30 pm IST