RG Kar rape-murder case: ‘Pay ₹17 lakh compensation to victim's family’ - 5 things court said while giving verdict

RG Kar rape-murder case: A Kolkata court on Monday sentenced the accused, Sanjay Roy, to life imprisonment in the RG Kar rape-murder case after finding him guilty of the heinous crime. 

The 34-year-old former civic police volunteer, Sanjay Roy, was charged with the rape and murder of a post-graduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024.

• The additional district and sessions judge of the trial court, Anirban Das, delivered the life imprisonment sentence around 2:50 pm after hearing the accused. Sanjay Roy was found guilty of committing rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the hospital on August 9 last year. On Saturday, Kolkata’s Sealdah court declared Sanjay Roy, who was a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, guilty under Sections 66 (rape), 64 (causing injury resulting in death) and 103 (1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Compensation to the victim's family

• The Sealdah court also decreed that the state government should give the victim’s family a compensation of ₹17 lakh. The trial court judge said, “Since the victim died while on duty in the hospital, her place of work, it is the responsibility of the state to pay compensation to the family of the doctor – ₹10 lakh for the death and ₹7 lakh for the rape."

• According to Judge Anirban Das, the crime did not fall under the "rarest of the rare" category, which justified not imposing the death penalty on the convict. The judge announced a life imprisonment sentence under Section 64, along with a fine of ₹50,000.
• Besides this, if the convict does not pay the fine, an additional five months of imprisonment will be imposed. “The CBI prayed for the death penalty. The defence lawyer prayed that a jail term be given instead of the death penalty… this crime does not fall under the rarest of the rare category,” PTI quoted the judge as saying.

• Earlier in the day, Sanjay Roy pleaded innocence and claimed that he had been “wrongly held guilty.” The trial court informed the convict that he could appeal against this decision before the Calcutta High Court.

After hearing the final statements of the convict, his defence counsel, the victim’s family, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Judge Anirban Das of the CBI special court at Sealdah awarded the life imprisonment sentence.

(With PTI inputs)