Order Questions Police Response

Flagging procedural lapses by multiple cops who were among the first responders of the crime, the judge has said, “The helpless father of the victim ran from pillar to post to get relief and to lodge the complaint.”

“It is not understandable to me why the police personnel of Tala PS (police station) kept everything behind a curtain and why such type of illegal acts was done by the concerned officer of Tala PS,” the order says.

The judge also pointed out the accused, Sanjoy Roy, was pampered by an Assistant Sub-Inspector Anup Dutta. “…he gave him an unbridled power and the accused availed the benefit of the same and started a life which does not go with the lifestyle of any member of a disciplined force,” the order says.

Asking the police commissioner to tackle such “illegal/indifferent acts in a very strict way”, the court stressed the need for proper training of officers to tackle investigation that rests upon electronic and scientific evidence”.

“On perusal of the evidences I am of the view that if the officers of Tala PS would take proper initiative by applying their intellect at the very first time, the matter would not become so complicated. I am sorry to comment that that the officers of Tala PS showed a very indifferent attitude from the very inception,” the order says.

A court in Kolkata pronounced the sentence in the sensitive case yesterday

Tough Talk On Hospital’s Response

The order notes that the state-run hospital’s representatives, in their phone calls right after the doctor was found dead, told the police as well as the victim’s father that she had died by suicide. “…it is clear that a story of commission of suicide of the victim was in the air.”

“There is no doubt to consider that from the end of any authority, efforts were made to show the death as a suicidal one so that the hospital authority would not face any consequences,” the order says.

The judge added that this “illegal dream” of the authority was not fulfilled because the juniors doctors started protesting. “Being the court of law, I condemn such attitude of the R.G Kar hospital authority,” the order says.

“It is fact that without post-mortem, the cause of death could not be ascertained but being the doctors why they did not consider that the said death was an unnatural one and it was obviously, the duty of the hospital authority to intimate the police,” it adds.

“The said act of the administrative head of the concerned hospital creates a shadow of doubt about the fact and it seems that they wanted to suppress anything and that there was dereliction of duty on their part,” the order says.

‘Sufficient Evidence To Establish Guilt’

The judge has stated that while the evidence on record did create “confusion”, “the accused has no right to get any relief, if sufficient materials to prove his involvement can be established by the prosecution”. “…think that the illegal/indifferent/lackadaisical acts on the part of the police authority of Tala PS as well as the administrative wing of R.G Kar Medical College and Hospital will not stand as a stumbling block on the way of trial of this case,” the order says.

The judge said he is of the view that “the prosecution correctly discharged the burden and placed sufficient evidence to establish the guilt of this accused”.

The court noted that the defence could not establish the presence of any other person other than Roy and the victim in the seminar room at the time of the incident.

“The accused got the scope to explain the circumstances but he failed to offer any alternative explanation denying his presence at the scene of crime. He was unable to negate the contention that no one else could have inflicted the said injuries over the person of the deceased (victim). The bald plea of denial offered by the accused and his explanation made at the time of his examination U/s 351 BNSS, do not lead me to hold that the accused could place any satisfactory explanation for which any suspicion can arise in the mind of the court.”

What Was The Motive

The order notes that Roy had said he was drunk when he entered the hospital premises. The court said there was no hostility between the victim and Roy and he attacked her “on sudden impulse” to “meet his lust”. “The victim was obviously not his target or that it was not known to him that the victim was there in the said Seminar Room and the offence committed by him was not pre-planned,” the order says.

Citing precedents in law, the court said many murders have been committed without any known or prominent motive. “After all, motive is a psychological phenomenon. Mere fact that prosecution failed to translate that mental disposition of the accused into evidence, does not mean that no such mental condition existed in the mind of the assailant,” the order says.

“No proof can be expected in all cases as to how the mind of the accused worked in a particular situation but the same by itself is insufficient to lead to any inference adverse to the prosecution… I hold that the prosecution case will not face the failure for want of direct evidence about the motive of the convict,” it adds.

Kolkata:

Kolkata Police would have ensured death penalty for the convict in RG Kar rape and murder case, but the probe was taken away and handed over to the CBI, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today, minutes after a city court sentenced Roy to life imprisonment.

“We demanded death penalty from Day 1. We demand it now too. But it’s the court’s order. I can share my party’s opinion. We ensured death penalty in three cases within 60 days. If the case stayed with us, we would have ensured death penalty long back. I don’t know the details.”

“The case was taken away from us. We had said that if we cannot do it, then hand it over to CBI. Because we want justice,” she said, adding that she was “not satisfied”.

The Trinamool Congress government had come under heavy criticism after a 34-year-old doctor was found raped and murdered on August 9 in a seminar hall at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Amid allegations of a hush-up involving top state government officials, the Supreme Court had ordered the CBI to take over the investigation into the case that sparked nationwide protests.

Five months on, a Kolkata court today sentenced Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, to life imprisonment and noted that the prosecution had failed to establish that the case fell in the ‘rarest of the rare’ category to warrant a death penalty.

The court also ordered the State to provide a sum of Rs 17 lakh as financial assistance to the doctor’s elderly parents. The couple, however, said they do not want compensation but justice. The judge, however, said they are entitled to the assistance as per law and urged them not to see it as compensation.

The victim’s parents and doctors still protesting against the incident believe that the crime was not committed by Roy alone.

Doctors in Kolkata have been protesting against an alleged cover-up by the state government to shield people close to the ruling party. Ms Banerjee has trashed such allegations and had, in fact, led a protest march to demand justice for the victim. 

Kolkata:

The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress of cover-up details about the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital last month. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party have been taking heavy fire over the horrific killing, with the BJP targeting her and Kolkata Police, which reports to Ms Banerjee in her role as Home Minister.

At a press conference Friday BJP leader Sambit Patra flagged three claims raised by the doctors’ parents – that a state official bribed them to “hush up the case”; that on the morning of August 9, hours after their daughter’s body was discovered, they were forced to wait for over three hours to see the body; and that after being told of her death they were urged to sign a blank paper.

“… these questions by the victim’s father are of paramount importance… because on the foundation of these questions is based the investigation and outcome of the investigation.”

“Imagine the father’s plight… imagine what he was thinking after learning of his daughter’s brutal murder… he wouldn’t have been able to reconcile what is happening. And, at that time, when her body is still in the house, a District Collector, not a politician, offers money…”

This claim was made by the parents earlier this week.

READ | “Cops Offered Money, We Declined”: Father Of Kolkata Doctor

“When my daughter’s body was at our home, DC (North) tried to give us some money. We replied accordingly,” the father said. The parents had earlier also claimed to have been offered money by a “senior police official”. “The police, from the beginning, tried to hush up the case… when her body was handed over, a senior police official offered us money,” the father said.

“… we immediately declined,” he said of both offers.

#WATCH | RG Kar Medical College & Hospital rape-murder incident | Delhi: BJP MP Sambit Patra says, “The questions that the victim’s father has laid in front of the nation today are of paramount importance… Question No. 1, the victim’s father says that when the body of the… pic.twitter.com/Rs4fyVSLoS

— ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2024

Mr Patra today underlined the offer from “an administrator” and demanded, “What was it that the administration was trying to throw under the carpet? What was there to hide… that (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee’s government sent the DC and offered money to the victim’s father?”

The Trinamool has hit back on this count by flagging another video, which emerged earlier, and in which the parents say no money was offered and that there was ‘no question’ about being offered any.

Trinamool’s “Vulture Politics” Counter

The ruling party has counter-accused the BJP of “vulture politics” by spreading conspiracy theories.

However, in another twist to an already complicated narrative, a relative has claimed the video, in which they dismiss allegations money was offered by a senior cop, been filmed under pressure.

On the parents’ allegations the state has offered a more circumspect response.

“Given the mental state of the parents… we will not analyse why they said this (that money had been offered) when they said something else earlier. There is no place for this (now). Whatever they, or family, are saying, we respect it…” Dr Shashi Panja, the Women and Child Development Minister, said.

“Forced To Wait For 3.5 Hours”

Meanwhile, Mr Patra also tore into the Trinamool over parents’ claims they were “forced to wait for three-and-a-half hours” outside the seminar room in which the body was discovered before being allowed to see their daughter. During this time, he alleged, officials tried to get them to leave.

READ | “We Are Coming. How Is She?”: 3 Hospital Calls To Doctor’s Parents

Mr Patra also alleged “in that time many people went in and out of the room”, suggesting laxity in securing the crime scene, intentionally or otherwise, may have contaminated crucial evidence.

“What did the government want to do in that room for three-and-half-hours?”

Finally, he also asked why the police, according to the doctor’s father, wanted the parents to sign a blank piece of paper after being shown the daughter’s body.

“I tore it up and threw it away…” the father had said of the alleged cover-up attempt.

READ | “Wanted Body Preserved, Forced To Cremate”: Doctor’s Parents

The police and the state government have been criticised by the opposition and civil society activists for their respective handling of this case. The government has been grilled over delays by Dr Sandip Ghosh – the ex-hospital chief arrested by the CBI over financial irregularities – in filing a police case, and also over appointing him to head another hospital hours after he quit RG Kar on “moral grounds”.

The police have been questioned over alleged lapses in protocol, which they have denied.

Both have also faced questions from the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court, which came down heavily on Dr Ghosh delaying filing a police case and on his new posting; the High Court asked the state government, “No man is above the law. Why do you protect him…”

CBI Almost Finished With Probe

Mr Patra’s broadside today came hours after sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation, tasked with this inquiry by the Calcutta High Court, said the case was nearly complete.

Sources in the federal agency also said they had ruled out gangrape as the available evidence indicated that only Sanjay Roy – arrested last month by Kolkata Police – was involved.

READ | CBI Rules Out Gang-Rape In Kolkata Case, Sanjay Roy Lone Accused

Meanwhile, a triumphant Trinamool posted on X shortly afterwards, stating, “After 24 days of inaction CBI confirmed what Kolkata Police established in 24 hours… Sanjay Roy was the sole perpetrator in the RG Kar tragedy. Conspiracy theories circulated by BJP… have been exposed.”

After 24 days of INACTION, @CBIHeadquarters confirmed what @KolkataPolice established in 24 hours – Sanjay Roy was the SOLE PERPETRATOR in R G Kar tragedy.

The conspiracy theories circulated by @BJP4India & Godi media have been EXPOSED.

We now demand that the chargesheet be…

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) September 6, 2024

“We now demand the chargesheet be filed and the accused be put on trial WITHOUT DELAY. Anything less is an insult to the victim’s memory!” the party declared.

Mamata Banerjee, still smarting at the High Court overruling her five-day deadline for the police before the CBI was to be summoned, has been fiercely critical of the federal agency; last week she said, “I asked for five days but the case was sent to CBI… where is justice (now)?”

With input from agencies

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Lucknow:

BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday said incidents of crime against women were “extremely worrying”, and asked political parties to rise above party politics and take “strict steps” to prevent them.

Her remarks come against the backdrop of the nationwide outcry over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and also cases of rape of girls in other parts of the country.

“The incidents of rape, murder and suicide, especially of innocent girls and women, happening in Bengal, Badlapur in Maharashtra, Bihar, and Kannauj, Agra and Farrukhabad districts of Uttar Pradesh are extremely sad and worrying,” the former chief minister said on X.

1. देश में कभी बंगाल, कभी महाराष्ट्र के बदलापुर, कभी बिहार में तो कभी यूपी के कन्नौज, आगरा व फर्रूखाबाद ज़िले आदि में भी मासूम बच्चियों नाबालिग़ व महिलाओं पर ख़ासकर रेप, हत्या व आत्महत्या आदि की हो रही घटनाएं अति-दुःखद व चिन्ताजनक। 1/2

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) August 29, 2024

“The Centre and all state governments should rise above party politics and take strict steps in this matter so that such incidents stop happening. Politics should not be done in its guise. This is the need of the hour and also in the interest of women,” she added.

2. केन्द्र व सभी राज्य सरकारें, इस मामले में दलगत राजनीति से ऊपर उठकर सख़्त कदम उठाएं, ताकि ऐसी घटनायें जल्दी होना बन्द हो, ना कि इसकी आड़ में राजनीति की जाए, यही समय की मांग है तथा यही महिलाओं के हित में भी है। 2/2

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) August 29, 2024

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)