An Indian court awarded a life sentence on Monday to a police volunteer convicted of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the hospital where she worked in the eastern city of Kolkata, rejecting demands for the death penalty and saying it was not a rare crime.
The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. Other doctors stayed off work for weeks to demand justice for her and better security at public hospitals, as the crime sparked national outrage over a lack of safety for women.
Sanjay Roy, the police volunteer, was convicted by judge Anirban Das on Saturday, who said circumstantial evidence had proved the charges against Roy.
Roy said he was innocent and that he had been framed, and sought clemency.
The federal police, who investigated the case, said the crime belonged to the “rarest-of-rare” category and Roy, therefore, deserved the death penalty.
“I do not consider it as a rarest-of-rare crime,” judge Das said and sentenced Roy to life in jail on both the counts of rape and murder. “Life imprisonment, meaning imprisonment until death.”
The judge said that he had come to the conclusion that it was not a rarest-of-rare crime after considering all the evidence and the circumstances linked to it. He said Roy could go in appeal to a higher court.
The sentence was announced in a packed courtroom as the judge allowed the public to witness proceedings on Monday. The speedy trial in the court was not open to the public.
The parents of the junior doctor were among those in court on Monday. Security was stepped up with dozens of police personnel deployed at the court complex.
The parents had earlier said that they were not satisfied with the probe and suspected more people were involved in the crime.
Their lawyer, Amartya Dey, told Reuters on Monday that they had sought the death penalty for Roy and also demanded that those involved in what they called the “larger conspiracy” be brought to book.
Protesting doctors had said that street protests would continue until justice was done.
India’s federal police cited 128 witnesses in its investigation, of whom 51 were examined during the fast-tracked trial that began in November.
Police had also charged the officer heading the local police station and the head of the college at the time of the crime with destruction of the crime scene and tampering with evidence.