The Calcutta High Court granted permission on Tuesday for the West Bengal government to challenge a lower court’s decision that sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment until death for the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The state, represented by Advocate General Kishor Datta, seeks to elevate the sentence to the death penalty, arguing that the crime merits harsher punishment.
The appeal follows a ruling by the Sealdah court, presided over by Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das, which found Roy guilty but declined to classify the crime as “rarest of the rare,” a necessary criterion for imposing the death penalty in India. Instead, the court sentenced Roy to a life term and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000, alongside directing the state government to compensate the victim’s family with Rs 17 lakh.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her dissatisfaction with the ruling, suggesting that the outcome might have been different if the case had remained under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police. “All of us have demanded the death sentence, but the court has given a life term until death… The case was forcibly taken from us. Had it been with the (Kolkata) police, we would have ensured that he was served a death sentence,” Banerjee stated during a press briefing.
