Bengal government moves Calcutta HC seeking death penalty for Sanjay Roy in RG Kar rape-murder case

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal on Jan 21 moved High Court seeking death penalty for convict Sanjay Roy, who was sentenced to life in prison in the rape and murder of a medic in RG Kar case.

Advocate General Kishore Dutta approached the division bench in the case. The court has permitted the filing of the matter.

"I have been seeking capital punishment for the accused in the R G Kar death incident. If someone is so demonic and barbaric, then how can society remain humane? We have passed the Aparajita Bill, but the Centre is sitting on it," Banerjee said at a public meeting in Malda.

The sessions court in Kolkata on Jan 20 sentenced Roy to life imprisonment. Despite immense public pressure and nationwide outrage against the incident, the court refrained from imposing the death penalty, saying the case didn’t meet the "rarest of rare' criteria."

“I am really shocked to see the judgment of the court today which finds it is not a rarest of rare case!” Banerjee posted on X after the verdict by Sealdah court.

“I am convinced that it is indeed a rarest of rare case which demands capital punishment... We will plead for capital punishment of the convict at the high court now,” she added.

Meanwhile, the victim’s father told reporters, “Let us get the order copy tomorrow, we will go through it and then decide what we want to do. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee does not have to do anything in a hurried manner. Whatever the Chief Minister has done till date, she should not do any further.”

Maintaining that the life imprisonment order was given because the CBI “could not provide proper proof”, the father said, “She can say a lot of things but she only tampered with evidence… the then CP and others, they had tampered with it. Could she not see all that from the beginning?”

The mother of the victim also expressed shock over the verdict saying, “We are shocked. How is this not the rarest of rare cases? An on-duty doctor was raped and murdered. We are dismayed. There was a larger conspiracy behind this crime.”

During court proceedings, the CBI lawyer pushed for the death penalty, calling the crime 'rarest of the rare' and emphasized that such a sentence would restore public trust in the justice system. The defense, however, argued the prosecution failed to prove the convict’s irredeemable nature.

Despite the prosecution's strong case, the judge determined the crime didn’t meet the criteria for the death penalty, opting for life imprisonment instead. Additionally, the court ordered a ₹ 17 lakh compensation to be paid to the family of the deceased doctor.