India police volunteer gets life imprisonment for rape, murder of junior doctor. sexual harassment news
The murder of a 31-year-old doctor at a government hospital in Kolkata city highlighted the long-standing issue of violence against women in the country.
An Indian court has sentenced a police volunteer convicted of raping and murdering a junior doctor at a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata to life in prison.
Judge Anirban Das on Monday rejected the demand for death penalty for Sanjay Roy, saying it was not the “rarest of rare case”, and ordered that the 33-year-old convict will have to spend his life behind bars.
Roy has consistently maintained his innocence and alleged that he has been framed. He can appeal against the decision in a higher court.
The blood-soaked body of the 31-year-old trainee doctor was found in a classroom of the government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. The autopsy found that she had been strangled and sexually assaulted.
Her parents cried inside the courtroom on Monday, saying they were “shocked” by the sentence and that they hoped her killer would be hanged, for a case that has raised eyebrows against women in the world’s most populous country. The old issue of violence has been highlighted.
“We are shocked by the verdict,” the victim’s father told AFP news agency with tears running down his face. “We will continue our fight, and will not let the investigation stop… No matter what, we will fight for justice.”
Family members cannot be identified in accordance with Indian law on reporting cases of sexual violence.
The federal police investigating the case had argued that the crime was of the “rarest of the rare” category and had sought the death penalty for Roy. The state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party had also demanded death for him.
Roy was arrested a day after the crime and arguments in the case began in November. The attack prompted the Supreme Court of India to set up a national task force to suggest ways to increase security in government hospitals.
Following the attack, doctors and medical students across India held protests and rallies demanding better security. Thousands of women also protested on the streets, demanding speedy trials in the country’s slow-moving justice system.
The death penalty is imposed in India, although it is rarely carried out in practice. The last to be hanged in March 2020 were four men convicted of the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in the capital New Delhi in 2012.
The doctor’s murder was compared to a 2012 incident and doctors at government hospitals demanded better security.
Activists say the new sentencing requirements have not stopped rape and have increased the number of reported rape cases. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2022, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape – a 20 percent increase from 2021.
