The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday said it will ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before accepting the appeal of the West Bengal government that the sentence awarded by the trial court in the rape-murder case of a trainee female doctor at RG Kar Hospital was inadequate. The victim’s family and the culprit’s side will be heard. The high court said it would hear the case on January 27.
The CBI opposed the state’s right to file an appeal in the case, claiming that being the prosecuting agency it has the right to file an appeal on the grounds of inadequacy of the sentence.
Sealdah court on Monday sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment in the case of rape and murder of a doctor on duty at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024.
A division bench headed by Justice Debangshu Basak said it would hear the arguments of the CBI, the victim’s family and the convict through their lawyers before accepting the state government’s appeal. Justice Mohammad Shabbar Rashidi was also included in this bench.
State Advocate General Kishore Dutta, while seeking death penalty for convict Roy, said before the court that life imprisonment till the end of his natural life was inadequate.
He urged the court to accept the appeal, claiming that apart from the prosecuting agency, the victim’s family and the convict, the state can also challenge the length of the sentence.
Dutta said before the division bench that the Kolkata Police had conducted the preliminary investigation in the rape-murder case and later the Calcutta High Court had on August 13, 2024 ordered the transfer of the investigation to the CBI.
Deputy Solicitor General Rajdeep Majumdar, appearing for the CBI, opposed the state’s argument and said the West Bengal government did not have the right to appeal against the trial court order on ‘grounds of insufficiency’. He said the CBI had requested the trial court to award death penalty to Roy.
