DEBATE OVER QUANTUM OF PUNISHMENT

The verdict in the RG Kar rape and murder case was delivered on January 20 as additional sessions judge Anirban Das pronounced life imprisonment for the main accused, Sanjay Roy.

- By Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

While his order ruled out capital punishment, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Bengal government moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking a harsher penalty. After an initial hearing on January 27, the HC reserved its judgment.

The victim's grieving parents allege evidence-tampering and misuse of power, but have submitted in the HC that they don't seek Roy's death. The court, while critical of investigative lapses, upheld the prosecution's evidence, which did not align with the more dramatic narratives in the air from the start.

Initially, assumptions of gang rape and a chaotic crime scene dominated public perception, but the investigators—Kolkata Police and the CBI—parsed the postmortem report, CCTV footage, video and photographic evidence and witness testimonies to conclude that the crime was committed by a single individual. Roy was a civic volunteer tasked to look after police personnel and their families and had access to government hospitals. On the night of August 9, 2024, an inebriated Roy chanced upon the sleeping junior doctor, whom he did not know, and com- mitted the gruesome crime. He had no prior motive, the probe found.