The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday has allowed the West Bengal government to file an appeal against the special court order that sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment until death in the RG Kar hospital doctor's rape and murder case, as reported by news agency PTI.
The Sealdah court on Saturday convicted civic volunteer Sanjay Roy in the case, where a trainee doctor was rape and murdered at the state-run hospital on August 9 last year. Roy was named the "sole prime accused" in the case.
Advocate General Kishor Datta moved a division bench presided by Justice Debangsu Basak to file the appeal to seek death penalty of Sanjay Roy. On Monday, Additional District and Sessions Judge in Sealdah, Anirban Das, rejected the demands for the death penalty saying it was not a "rarest of the rare" crime.
As per the court judgement, Roy has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 50,000. The court also directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
The Mamata Benerjee-led government then moved to the high court asking permission to file the appeal challenging the order passed by the Sealdah Court.
Earlier, the Bengal CM said she was not satisfied with the verdict and said that state government have been demanding death sentence to the convict. She also criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its probe into the rape-murder of the on-duty medic at the state-run hospital.
"We have been demanding death sentence to the convict since Day 1 and we are still demanding the same... If we had the case in our hands, we would have ordered a death sentence in the case long ago, but it was taken away from us. We want justice. Such criminals should be hanged. I am not satisfied with the court's order," Mamata Banerjee told reporters in Murshidabad.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bengal CM on Monday posted that she was shocked at the court's order that it does not find the crime as a rarest of the rare case. She added that the henious crime committed by Sanjay Roy warranted capital punishment, and she is convinced that it was indeed a rarest of the rare case. She also said that her government will plead for capital punishment of the convict at the High Court.