Not satisfied with RG Kar sentence: Mamata

Leaders across political lines, led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over a court in Kolkata giving life imprisonment to the convict in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case.

- Agencies

KOLKATA:

The Sealdah court sentenced 34-year-old civic volunteer Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment till death for the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run hospital.

The court of additional district and sessions judge Anirban Das in Sealdah had on Saturday held Roy guilty of the crime committed against the postgraduate trainee doctor at the hospital on August 9 last year, which sparked off unprecedented and prolonged nationwide protests. 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.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that she was "not satisfied" with the punishment. She further claimed the probe into the matter was "forcibly" taken away from Kolkata police, and asserted that had it been with them, they would have ensured a death penalty.

"From day 1, all of us had demanded death sentence, but the court has given life term until death. We still stick to our demand. I can share my party's opinion; the case was forcibly taken from us. Had it been with the (Kolkata) police, we would have ensured that he got death sentence," she told reporters in Murshidabad district.