Trial in RG Kar rape-murder case begins in city court

 The proceedings were held in-camera at the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das.

PTI, KOLKATA, NOV 11, 2024 : A Kolkata court on Monday held the first day of trial in the rape and murder case of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The proceedings were held in-camera at the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das. Prime accused Sanjay Roy was present in the court. The father of the victim was also present as a witness, police sources said. Roy was brought to the court in the afternoon, and the proceedings are being held behind closed doors.

The prime accused, while coming out of the court, again claimed that he had been framed by the administration and that he was not guilty. “They did not let me speak even today. I’ve done nothing and have been framed,” Roy told reporters while being whisked away.

On November 4, when charges were framed against him, he claimed that he was innocent. Roy has been booked under Section 64 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (rape), Section 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state), and Section 103 (punishment for murder). Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police on August 10, a day after the on-duty woman doctor’s body was found inside the seminar room of the RG Kar hospital. Later, the CBI took up the investigation into the case on a Calcutta High Court order.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Calcutta High Court order directing a CBI probe into the alleged torture of a woman in police custody after her arrest over protests against the rape and murder of the doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the West Bengal government to submit a list of seven IPS officers, including five women, who could be included in a fresh Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the custodial torture case.

The order was passed on an appeal filed by the West Bengal government, which had stated that the High Court had erroneously passed the order directing a CBI probe and that the state police was capable of handling the investigation.

On November 6, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court upheld an order of a single judge directing a CBI investigation into the allegations leveled by the woman. The division bench had stated that the order of the single bench for conducting an independent investigation could not be faulted and did not call for any interference. Dismissing the appeal made by the West Bengal government, the High Court had directed the CBI to comply with the order of the single bench.

Two petitioners, both women, had moved the single bench alleging physical torture in police custody. The court had noted a report from a jail doctor, who found signs of hematoma (a solid swelling of clotted blood within tissue) on the legs of one of the petitioners. The single bench had, on October 8, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegation of physical torture in police custody.