RG Kar rape-murder: Cal HC reserves order on admission of appeals by WB govt, CBI

The Calcutta High Court on Monday reserved its order on the admission of two separate appeals, one by the West Bengal government and the other by the CBI, challenging a trial court order which sentenced RG Kar hospital rape-murder convict Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment till death.

The court's division bench, presided by Justice Debangsu Basak, heard both the state government and the CBI, who argued that the January 20 order of the Sealdah sessions court sentencing Roy, the sole convict in the crime, to life imprisonment till death was inadequate.

Both the CBI and the state government separately prayed for capital punishment for the convict.

The CBI claimed before the bench that only it has the right to move an appeal before the high court on grounds of inadequacy of sentence since it was the investigation and prosecution agency of the case.

The state government argued that apart from the central agency, it too can move an appeal claiming inadequacy of sentence given by the trial court.

Advocate General Kishore Dutta, representing the West Bengal government, opened the day's arguments before the division bench for admission of the state's appeal.

The parents of the victim doctor and the convict were represented before the court by their respective lawyers as per the earlier direction of the division bench.

Roy was sentenced to life imprisonment till the end of his natural life by the Sealdah sessions court here for the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024.