A Kolkata court in its landmark judgment on Saturday convicted Sanjay Roy, the prime accused in the rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The hearing on sentencing will take place on Monday, January 20.
Despite Roy’s repeated claims of being framed, evidence collected during the CBI probe and his initial confession proved decisive in the court’s ruling. The verdict convicted Roy under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with rape, murder, and causing death. The judgment highlighted inconsistencies and misconduct by various authorities, including the HoD, MSVP, and Principal of RG Kar Medical College. These lapses were criticized for creating confusion during the investigation and trial process.
This case highlighted systemic failures in institutional safety and investigative processes. The criticism directed at the hospital authorities and police underscores the need for reforms to prevent such tragedies in the future. The government needs to look into the security measures, adopt stricter protocols and focus on women safety.
The heinous rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee doctor in the government-run medical college and hospital, on August 9, 2024 has outraged not just West Bengal and the medical fraternity but the entire nation. The spontaneous protests and demonstrations all over the state and nationwide over the horror are reminiscent of the Nirbhaya movement that saw an entire nation react with outrage and utter disbelief to the brutal rape and murder of a paramedical student on a Delhi bus in December 2012. After 7 long years of wait, all four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case were executed in 2020.
The country will have to wait just a day for the court in Kolkata to pronounce the quantum of the punishment.
In this case the possible punishment for the guilty could be Section 64(1) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that says, “Whoever commits rape shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than 10 years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”
Section 66, “Whoever, commits an offence punishable under section 64 (rape) and in the course of such commission inflicts an injury which causes the death of the woman or causes the woman to be in a persistent vegetative state, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, or with death”
Section 103(1) of the BNS says, “Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”
With the extreme brutality of which the crime was committed, the country, especially women will expect the most painful punishment. Women have had enough from the Nirbhaya and the RG Kar rape and murder cases.
