An Indian police volunteer has been sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Calcutta
An Indian court has sentenced a police volunteer to life in prison for the assault and murder of a trainee doctor who was attacked while on duty in Kolkata last August – a crime that has sparked widespread protests across the country.
The trial, which began in November and was held behind closed doors, was quickly followed by protests, with many people taking to the streets to express their anger at chronic violence against women in India, as well as the lack of security. measures to ensure the safety of female doctors.
During a court hearing in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on Monday, Judge Anirban Das said it was not the “rarest of the rare” case that shocked society at large. Therefore, the death penalty was not suitable for Sanjay Roy.
“You will be in jail till the last day of your life,” Das said while sentencing Roy on charges of both rape and murder.
Before the sentencing, Roy reiterated his innocence and belief in what he was accused of, pleading not to be sentenced to death.
“Justice is still awaited”
Roy, 33, worked unofficially as a police volunteer at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a government teaching hospital where the victim’s body was found in the seminar hall on August 9. The 31-year-old doctor, whose name has not been released, reportedly went to the lounge to rest after a 36-hour shift for legal reasons.
Her body was half-naked and severely injured, and an autopsy revealed she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Roy was arrested a day after the victim was found and formally charged last October, when federal investigators later revealed he was arrested after he was caught on CCTV entering a seminar hall.
After the guilty verdict was confirmed on Saturday, but with sentencing still pending, the victim’s mother told reporters that she believed Roy did not act alone, but “the others have not been arrested yet. So justice has not been served.”
On Monday, the doctor’s parents broke down in tears in the courtroom and said that their hopes about the death sentence had been dashed.
His father told Agence France-Presse: “We are shocked by the verdict. “We will continue to fight… no matter what, we will fight for justice.”
Protesters gathered in front of the court on Monday and expressed their dissatisfaction with the verdict.
The victim’s parents had earlier alleged that the West Bengal police had attempted it delaying the investigation and falsifying evidence.
The court also awarded the family 1,700,000 rupees (about Cdn 28,500) in compensation, although the victim’s parents told the court they did not want the money. “I just want justice for our daughter – nothing else,” said the father.
The case was initially investigated by the Kolkata police, but was later handed over to federal investigators after state officials were accused of mishandling the case.
Resident of Calcutta KPC Medical College and Hospital, Dr. Sayantani Ghosh Hazra, reacting to the verdict on Monday, said, “I am … stunned, stunned and very emotional.”
“Justice is still awaited,” he said, adding that he believed more people were involved in the crime.
Hazra was very involved in the demonstrations that took place after the rape and murder, even fasting for 17 days in protest.
“Everyone is hungry for justice,” he said, pending a full account of what happened that night.
Security concerns are not going away
Months after the attack, Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital is still covered in posters and graffiti condemning the assault, which many see as an unwillingness on the part of the authorities to fully investigate the crime.
“We feel like we’ve lost our sister,” Dr. Asfakulla Naiya, a resident of the same hospital as the victim, told CBC News in an interview before the sentencing. He stressed the shock that the attack took place in a seminar hall where doctors are trained “to save lives, not to save lives”.
Naiya wanted Roy’s sentence to serve as an example to potential rapists and “instill fear” so that they think “a thousand times” before assaulting a woman.
The brutal rape and murder sparked nationwide rallies and weeks of doctors’ strikes, with thousands of women calling for justice and opposing victim blaming in a demonstration called Take Back the Night.
Rimjhim Sinha, one of the organizers of that protest and subsequent rallies, said Monday’s ruling must be coupled with real social change to make any difference.
“Even the death penalty does not really eradicate rape culture in our society, no matter how many criminals are hanged,” said Sinha, an activist and researcher who focuses on women’s rights in India.
Thousands of people gathered outside a hospital in the Indian city of Kolkata to call for justice for a young female trainee doctor who was assaulted and killed while taking a break from a long queue last month.
“Women are not even considered human. “We are treated as property or something that someone has to keep as a trophy.”
Sinha said not much has changed culturally in India since the 2012 gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a Delhi bus shocked the country and sparked massive protests. The case resulted in tougher sentences for rape and speedy trials to deal with assault charges.
Others, like 22-year-old medical student Debasmita Das, are skeptical that a life sentence will lead to more adequate safety measures for female health workers. India’s Supreme Court has set up a national task force to look into beefing up security at government hospitals after the attack.
“How can a murder happen inside a hospital (while the victim is on duty)?” Das told CBC News.
“In three years I will do my internship. How will I feel safe?”
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