RG Kar case: HC grants permission to state to file appeal against 'life term till death' order

PTI, KOLKATA, JAN 21, 2025: The West Bengal government on Tuesday moved the Calcutta High Court to file an appeal seeking the death penalty for the convict in the RG Kar hospital doctor's rape and murder case and secured the court’s necessary permission. The state government's move comes in less than 24 hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her intent to challenge before a higher court the order of Sealdah court that sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment until death in the case.

Advocate General Kishor Datta moved a division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi on Tuesday morning, seeking the court's permission to file the appeal challenging the order passed by Additional District and Sessions Judge in Sealdah, Anirban Das, on Monday. "The government has moved the High Court and secured the court's leave to file the appeal," an official said. High Court sources maintained that the judicial process pertaining to the case could start this week itself if the due process of filing the appeal was completed by the end of the day on Tuesday.

The Sealdah court sentenced Roy to life imprisonment until death after he was convicted of raping and murdering the on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, rejecting demands for the death penalty saying it was not a "rarest of the rare" crime. The court also ordered Roy to pay a Rs 50,000 fine and directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor. Holding that "in the realm of modern justice, we must rise above the primitive instinct of an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth or a nail for a nail or a life for a life," Das awarded rigorous imprisonment to Roy, the sole convict in the case, for the remainder of his natural life. The judge also stated in his order that “our duty is not to match brutality with brutality, but to elevate humanity through wisdom, compassion and a deeper understanding of justice. The measure of a civilised society lies not in its ability to exact revenge, but in its capacity to reform, rehabilitate and ultimately to heal.”

Maintaining that the case doesn’t meet the stringent criteria drawn from established guidelines of previous Apex Court judgments for imposing the death penalty, the trial court stopped short of classifying the crime as "rarest of the rare." "The Supreme Court has consistently emphasized that the death penalty should be used only in exceptional circumstances where the collective conscience of the community is so shocked that it expects the holders of judicial power to inflict the death penalty,” Das stated in his order while highlighting that "it is crucial to note that there is no evidence of prior criminal behavior or misconduct by the convict."

Expressing dissatisfaction with the Sealdah court’s verdict, the Chief Minister had on Monday asserted that had the case been handled by the Kolkata Police, the death penalty would have been ensured. "All of us have demanded the death sentence, but the court has given a life term until death... The case was forcibly taken from us. Had it been with the (Kolkata) police, we would have ensured that he was served a death sentence," she told reporters.

Later, posting on her X handle where she sounded more critical, Mamata informed that the state government would challenge the Sealdah court verdict and move the Calcutta High Court. "In the RG Kar junior doctor's rape and murder case, I am really shocked to see that the judgment of the Court today finds that it is not a Rarest of Rare case! I am convinced that it is indeed a rarest of rare case which demands capital punishment. How could the judgment come to the conclusion that it is not a rarest of rare case?! We want and insist upon the death penalty in this most sinister and sensitive case," she stated in her post.

"I have been seeking capital punishment for the accused in the RG Kar death incident. If someone is so demonic and barbaric, then how can society remain humane? We have passed the Aparajita Bill with provisions of capital punishment for perpetrators of such heinous crimes on women, but the Centre is sitting on it," she said at a public meeting in Malda on Tuesday.