The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will lodge an application before the Calcutta High Court within two days, appealing for the death penalty for offender Sanjay Roy.
This comes a day after the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government also moved the high court demanding capital punishment for Roy, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in Kolkata for the rape and murder of a doctor in the RG Kar case. Advocate General Kishore Dutta approached the division bench in the issue, and the court had consented to the filing.
“I have been seeking capital punishment for the convict in the RG Kar death incident. If someone is so monstrous and barbaric, then how can the community remain humane? We have passed the Aparajita Bill, but the Centre is not taking any action on it,” Banerjee said at a public meeting in Malda.
The sessions court declined to impose the death penalty, stating that the case did not meet the “rarest of rare” criteria. The judgement sparked strong reactions, with Banerjee posting, X: “I am really shocked to see the verdict of the court today finds it is not the rarest of rare cases! I am convinced that it is indeed the rarest of rare cases that demands capital punishment… We will request capital punishment of the convict at the high court now.”
The victim’s mother also expressed her disappointment over the verdict, saying, “We are shocked. How is this not the rarest of rare cases? A doctor on duty was raped and murdered. There was a larger conspiracy behind this crime.”
During court proceedings, the CBI lawyer stated that the crime was the ‘rarest of the rare’ and requested the death penalty to restore public trust in the justice system. However, the defence contended that the prosecution had failed to prove the convict’s irredeemable nature.
This follows the sessions court verdict to life imprisonment and ordered Rs 17 lakh compensation for the family of the deceased doctor. Despite public pressure, the court made the verdict against capital punishment, referring to insufficient grounds under the “rarest of rare” category.
