RG Kar verdict: Life imprisonment for Sanjay Roy; not rarest of rare crimes, says court

A special court in Kolkata, on Monday, sentenced Sanjay Roy, the sole accused in the case of ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, to life imprisonment.

While pronouncing the quantum of sentence, the judge of the special court, Anirban Das, also made it clear that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s contention that Roy's offence in the matter was “the rarest and rare crimes” was not tenable.

Hence, the judge observed that instead of the “death penalty”, Roy, an erstwhile civic volunteer attached to Kolkata Police, be sentenced to “life imprisonment”.

Apart from that a financial penalty of Rs 50,000 has also been imposed on Roy.

The judge of the special court, at the same time, directed the West Bengal government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the victim.

The judge observed that the since the victim was raped and murdered at her workplace, which is a state-government entity, legally the state government has to pay compensation to the victim’s family.

The detailed order copy will be uploaded soon following which the other details of the order of the special court will be available.

On January 18, Roy was convicted under Section 64 (punishment for rape), Section 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state of a victim) and Section 103(I) (punishment for murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

On the compensation issue, the victim’s parents argued that they have never sought money as compensation for the ghastly end of their daughter.

The judge explained to them that while he was aware that they had not sought compensation, as per legal provisions he had ordered the state government to pay the compensation.

"Now how you will utilize the money is entirely up to you,” the judge of the special court said.

The body of the victim doctor was recovered from the seminar hall within R.G. Kar premises on the morning of August 9 last year. The initial investigation into the matter was started by a special investigation team of Kolkata Police, who arrested Roy. However, the CBI started an investigation five days from the date of the crime following an order of the Calcutta High Court and thereafter Roy was handed over to the central agency officials by the city police.

The trial process in the matter started on November 11 last year, 59 days after the body of the victim was discovered in the seminar hall within the R.G. Kar premises.

The conviction process was completed on January 18. The sentence was pronounced at 2.45 p.m. on Monday exactly 164 days from the date of crime.

While the conviction in the crime of “rape and murder crime” is over, the angle in the tampering of evidence in the matter is still alive. The CBI, sources said, had already informed the special court that the scope for filing a supplementary charge sheet on the “tampering of evidence" angle is still open, which keeps the case open.

Last year the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal were granted “default bail” by the same special court, as CBI failed to file the supplementary charge sheet against the duo within 90 days of their arrest.

Both Ghosh and Mondal were accused of misleading the investigation and tampering with the evidence while the initial investigation in the matter was being carried out by Kolkata Police before the CBI took charge of the investigation following an order of the Calcutta High Court.