The parents of the young doctor raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital do not want the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, their lawyer submitted before Calcutta High Court on Monday.
The Bengal government and the CBI moved the high court last week seeking capital punishment for Roy, whom the Sealdah court has awarded life imprisonment.
On Monday, the division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi heard submissions on whether the state can appeal the trial court’s order.
The court also sought the opinion of the slain doctor’s parents on the matter.
The family’s lawyer submitted that they were against Roy being sent to the gallows.
“My clients do not believe in the theory of eye for an eye or life for a life. They do not want capital punishment for Sanjay Roy. Rather they want the other accused to be punished as well,” lawyer Gargi Goswami told the court.
Standing outside the court, the father of the slain doctor demanded that “all other accused in the case” be brought under the investigation.
The Sealdah court has sentenced Roy to imprisonment till death. Dissatisfied with the order, the state moved the high court pleading capital punishment for Roy. The CBI filed a similar plea.
The court on Monday heard the CBI prayer challenging the legality of the state government’s decision to move an appeal against the trial court’s judgment in the RG Kar rape and murder case.
In another petition, the CBI sought the right to move against the order and seek capital punishment for the convict.
The court will first decide whose appeal it would hear — the state’s or the CBI’s. The bench has reserved its order.
Hearing the CBI prayer last week, Justice Basak, the senior judge on the bench, had asked the state government to enlighten the court by citing laws to prove that the state had the right to challenge a trial court order and demand higher punishment for a convict.
During the hearing on Monday, the state’s counsel said Sections 377 and 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) give the state the right to challenge any order and seek higher punishment for the convict.
Section 377 allows the state government to appeal a sentence it considers inadequate.
“The state has to implement the court’s orders in cases under its jurisdiction. So it should have the power to challenge any order and demand higher punishment,” Bengal advocate-general Kishore Datta submitted.
Sections 377 and 378 of CrPC are equivalent to Sections 418 and 419 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita,(which has replaced the CrPC.
Senior lawyers at Calcutta High Court said sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the CrPC are still often cited during hearings for easier understanding.
The IPC has been replaced by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The judge said, according to the law, the central government should get priority to move appeals in such cases. “Being a central agency, the CBI should get a chance to move its appeal.”
Advocate-general Datta said: “The rule also states that only a public prosecutor on behalf of the state has the power to move such an appeal. The CBI has no PP at Calcutta High Court.”
Opposing Datta, the CBI counsel and additional solicitor-general of India, S.V.
Raju, said only the central agency has the right to move an appeal in the case as all relevant documents are in its custody.
“After a court order (transferring the probe from Kolkata Police to the CBI), the state handed over all the documents to the CBI,” Raju said.
The CBI counsel also informed the court that the agency has appointed advocate Amarjit De as a special public prosecutor at the high court.