West Bengal moves HC seeking death penalty for convict in Kolkata doctor’s rape, murder case

The West Bengal government on Tuesday moved the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, a former civic police volunteer convicted for the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, reported Bar and Bench.

The Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court in the city found Roy guilty of the crime on Saturday. On Monday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Das refused to grant the death penalty to Roy, saying that the crime did not meet the “rarest of rare” criteria for capital punishment, reported Bar and Bench.

The “rarest of rare” doctrine is used in India to decide when to impose the death penalty in cases that are particularly brutal, heinous or depraved. The doctrine is often applied in cases of murder, rape and other serious crimes.

The 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead on the premises of the state-run hospital on August 9. The incident had sparked protests across the country.

On Monday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed dissatisfaction with the sentence awarded to Roy. “Case was forcibly taken from Kolkata Police, had it been with them, it would have ensured death sentence,” she said.

The case was initially investigated by the West Bengal Police and later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation…

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