RG Kar convict Sanjay Roy gets life term, escapes noose as court says ‘Not rarest of rare’

The court held Roy guilty of the crime committed against the postgraduate trainee doctor.

New Delhi: A Kolkata court sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment till death on Monday after he was convicted of rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das in Sealdah had on January 18, 2025 declared Roy guilty of rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee at the hospital on August 9 last year. The charges under which Roy has been convicted entail a minimum sentence of life imprisonment, while the maximum can be capital punishment. The mother of the former civic police volunteer who has been convicted of the gruesome crime said she has no problem if the court hangs him for the crime.

Judge Das said the crime did not fall under the “rarest of the rare” category as justification for not giving death penalty to the convict. The court also directed the state to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.

The sentence was passed after the judge heard the final statements of the convict and his counsels placed in self-defence as well as those of the victim’s family, and the CBI. Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was held guilty under Sections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death), and 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Meanwhile, the parents of the deceased doctor on Sunday alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not investigate the case properly. Speaking to media persons, the parents claimed that if the CBI had properly investigated the case, then several others would have been arrested and convicted.

(With PTI inputs)