Kolkata:

The Bengal government’s appeal against the life imprisonment sentence handed to Sanjay Roy – the man convicted of raping and murdering a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital in August last year – is not maintainable, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Calcutta High Court Wednesday morning.

The federal agency – under fire from some, including the state and the doctors’ family over an investigation the court ruled yielded insufficient material to warrant the death penalty – told the court only the union government, or itself, could appeal inadequacy of the sentence in this case.

“The Supreme Court has held the central government alone will be empowered to admit an appeal in cases which are investigated by a central agency… the state will not be empowered.”

The agency also lay down a second precedence; “… also, it was held in the Lalu Prasad Yadav case that only the prosecutor (i.e., itself) can prefer an appeal…”

To the second precedence the state pointed out the appeal in the Lalu Yadav case was against acquittal, and also that the original complaint in the RG Kar case was filed by the Kolkata Police.

“In our case… the FIR (first information report) was lodged by the state police force, which was then transferred by the High Court. That is the difference… law and order is a state subject. The state is primarily responsible for the investigation… they cannot be construed to be a bystander.”

“This case was initially registered by the state… not the CBI.”

The court, after hearing preliminary arguments by both sides, then sought a response from Roy’s counsel, who was present but said he had not been allowed to visit his client, something to which Justice Basak took strong exception. “Why? Why is he not being allowed to visit the convict?”

The court then listed the matter for a second hearing on Monday, January 27.

What Mamata Banerjee Said

On Tuesday evening, amid outrage over a Kolkata court sentencing Roy to a life term instead of handing down the death penalty, the Bengal government expressed strong disappointment.

READ | RG Kar Convict Gets Life Term. Case “Not Rarest Of Rare”: Judge

“When someone is a demon… can the society be human? Sometimes they get out after a few years. If someone commits a crime, should we forgive them? If someone commits a crime and gets away, he will do it again. Our job is not to protect them,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raged.

READ | “We Don’t Protect Criminals”: Bengal Seeks Death For RG Kar Convict

Ms Banerjee also questioned the lower court’s contention – that the RG Kar Hospital rape-murder case is not ‘rarest of rare’, which is the umbrella term for criteria to execute a convict.

“How does the judgment say it is not ‘rarest of rare’… I say it is rare and heinous,” she said.

Ms Banerjee, and her government, had been heavily criticised by numerous stakeholders, including the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the protesting doctors, and the woman’s parents, over alleged mishandling of the initial investigation. And, in responding to the sentence, the Chief Minister was quick to make her point, saying, “… if the case stayed with us, we would have ensured the death penalty.”

‘Life’, Not ‘Death’ For Roy

Roy was found guilty Saturday on charges of rape and murder. On Monday, the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment. Justice Anirban Das acknowledged the crime was “particularly heinous”, but said the sentencing must heed principles of reformative justice and the sanctity of human life.

NDTV Explains | “No Eye-For-Eye”: Why No Death Penalty For RG Kar Convict

Justice Das also noted the CBI had failed to provide sufficient evidence to convince him this is a ‘rarest of rare’ case, and so warrant the death penalty for Sanjay Roy.

The RG Kar Hospital case sparked massive outrage and also triggered a shrill political squabble between the ruling Trinamool and the BJP, which had clamoured for the CBI to take over the case on grounds the state government and the state police force were shielding the guilty, including Roy.

READ | “CBI Failed To Catch Others”: Doctor’s Parents Before RG Kar Sentence

The CBI was finally ordered to take over by the High Court, prompting bitter counterattacks from the Trinamool. However, the agency’s investigation was also heavily criticised; doctors protesting the murder called it “worthless” and the woman’s parents said it had failed to catch others involved.

“That Sanjay is guilty was proved through biological evidence. And that he stood silent during the trial also proved his hand in torturing and killing my daughter. But he was not alone, there are others who haven’t been arrested yet. So, justice hasn’t been delivered,” her mother said after the conviction.

With input from agencies

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New Delhi/Kolkata:

The sentencing of Sanjay Roy, the convict in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case, is set for today. A Kolkata court will announce the sentence, whether he would get life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Kolkata:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, is trying to retrieve the deleted history of the mobile phone calls and messages which Ashish Pandey made on August 9, the morning of which the body of the victim was discovered at the seminar hall within the hospital premises.

Pandey is one of the confidants of Sandip Ghosh, the former and controversial principal of RG Kar.

Sources said the investigating officials have come across some circumstantial evidence that indicates that the history of such calls and messages from Pandey’s mobile phone were deleted in due course.

The investigating officials believe that once the data on this count are retrieved it might lead to new angles in the twin conspiracies, the first related to tampering of evidence in the rape and murder case and the second related to the rampant financial irregularities at RG Kar.

Sources added that the investigating officials suspect that these deleted calls and messages were mainly related to a conversation between Pandey and his mentor Sandip Ghosh, against whom the central agency officials are conducting parallel probes in both the rape and murder as well the financial irregularities case.

In the rape and murder case, the main charges against Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal are — misleading the investigation and tempering of the evidence when the initial probe in the matter was being carried out by the Kolkata Police.

The name of Pandey first surfaced in the second week of September, when the CBI officials traced that he had put up at a hotel in Salt Lake on the night of August 9, on the morning of which the body of the doctor was discovered within the hospital premises.

On October 3, the CBI sleuths arrested Pandey in connection with the financial irregularities case. He is currently under judicial custody.

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

People come to support junior doctors sitting on a hunger strike demanding justice for the RG Kar rape-murder case, in Kolkata on October 11, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI

Another junior doctor, who was observing a fast-unto-death in protest over the rape and murder of a woman medic at R.G. Kar Medical College was rushed to a hospital on Saturday evening after his health condition deteriorated, an official said.

Anustup Mukherjee, a junior doctor of Medical College, Kolkata, became the third medic of those who have been on the indefinite fast to be taken to hospital. His condition was stated to be “serious” by his colleagues at the agitation site in the city, a medic said.

Also read | ‘Medical fraternity of India is concerned’: IMA writes to Mamata on fast unto death by junior doctors

After a team of doctors decided that his condition demanded that he be admitted to hospital for treatment, Dr. Mukherjee was taken to hospital, he said.

He was taken for treatment to Medical College, Kolkata, of which he is a student.

Junior doctors at the agitation site said blood was coming out of his stool and that he was complaining of severe stomach ache.

They requested the government to consider their demands, maintaining that the state administration was “responsible” for the illnesses of the fasting doctors.

Earlier in the day, Alok Varma from North Bengal Medical College and Hospital became the second medic of those who have been on an indefinite fast to be hospitalised after Aniket Mahato was admitted to the ICU of RG Kar Hospital three days back.

The junior doctors commenced their fast-unto-death in the Esplanade area in central Kolkata on October 5.

The protesting doctors have been demanding justice for the deceased woman medic at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital and immediate removal of Health Secretary N.S. Nigam.

Their other demands include the establishment of a centralised referral system for all hospitals and medical colleges in the state, the implementation of a bed vacancy monitoring system, and formation of task forces to ensure essential provisions for CCTV, on-call rooms, and washrooms at their workplaces.

New Delhi:

Junior doctors protesting August’s rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital are on a fast-unto-death, setting up another potential face-off with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Six people are on a hunger strike and this will continue for an “indefinite period (till) we get justice”, they said last night.

They will be joined this week by colleagues from Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, who said they will hold a candlelight protest at the city’s JLN Auditorium on Wednesday evening.

Speaking to NDTV Monday morning, a doctor from AIIMS acknowledged his colleagues and he have a duty to their patients and the public and so could not strike indefinitely, but said, “The country has seen junior doctors of Bengal striking for 50 days. The demands have been clear since Day 1 – justice.”

#WATCH | Kolkata, West Bengal | On hunger strike called by Junior Doctors, Dr Aqeeb says, “…Six of our people are sitting on hunger strike right now and we will continue for an indefinite period..Our only demand is we want justice in the RG Kar incident…” (06.10) pic.twitter.com/P2Bhl0z60Y

— ANI (@ANI) October 7, 2024

“But we are seeing questions over the investigation (being led by the Central Bureau of Investigation) and it is so slow…” he said, also launching a fierce criticism of Ms Banerjee.

“Mamata Banerjee is not listening… she is just diverting the topic. Transferring some officails and not changing the ground reality. So how will doctors have a sense of security at the workplace?” he asked, also hitting out at the ‘threat culture’ red-flagged by Bengal doctors.

“It is high time that this ‘threat culture’ should end… not just in Kolkata but anywhere in India. If this is prevalent in any section of scoiety it should end,” he told NDTV, stating that resident doctors from AIIMS would hold a silent march and a candelight protest for their colleagues.

Doctors’ protests against the Bengal administration – over demands that include justice for their colleague, improved workplace safety and security, and a reshuffle of state officials to root out a “threat culture” – renewed last week with a sit-in protest in the heart of Kolkata.

The doctors indicated also the rest would fufill their responsibilities to the public by attending to patients but not eat anything. The state will be held responsible for their condition, they said.

On Friday the doctors had withdrawn a second ‘ceasework’ movement, which had, again, crippled healthcare services at state-run medical colleges and hospitals.

They had started their second ‘ceasework’ strike – which involves attending only to essntial and emergency services, but not working in outpatient departments – on October 1.

This was all after the doctors said the government had failed to act on assurances given during last month’s meeting with the Chief Minister. They also said CCTV cameras would be set up to “maintain transparency”. The reference was seen as a reminder to Ms Banerjee; one of the doctors’ demands is increased camera surveillance of hospital campuses across the state.

Significantly, the doctors’ fresh protests followed another horrific crime in the state.

The body of a 10-year-old girl was found in a canal in 24 South Parganas’ Kultani on Saturday. Ms Banerjee – already under heavy political fire from the opposition BJP and from civil activists – told cops to file a case under the POCSO Act and “ensure culprits get capital puishment”.

The young girl’s family has alleged neligence by the police.

The police – who also face questions over their handling of the RG Kar rape-murder horror, including the courts asking why there was a delay in filing a case – have detained a suspect.

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