The parents of the postgraduate trainee raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday questioned the Bengal government’s move to appeal against the verdict of the trial court in the Calcutta high court within 24 hours of the sentence being pronounced.
“I don’t know why the state government is being so proactive in filing an appeal. When the investigation was going on they did nothing to support it,” said the victim’s father.
On Monday, additional sessions judge Anirban Das had served a sentence of life in prison until death to the sole convict in the case, Sanjay Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police who was found guilty of raping and murdering the trainee doctor at the state-run medical college hospital on August 9 last year.
“We will consult with our legal team and then decide on the next course of action,” said the victim’s father.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s government had on Tuesday moved the Calcutta high court against the verdict and sought the death penalty for Roy.
When the case filed by the state government came up for hearing before Justice Debanshu Basak and Justice M.M. Shabbar Rashidi on Wednesday, the division bench asked if the victim’s parents were informed about the state’s decision to challenge the verdict.
The state’s counsel answered in the negative.
The division bench also asked the state if it had any objection to the parents being informed about the appeal on the trial court verdict and if the message could be conveyed to the family on Wednesday itself.
The state advocate general said yes to the questions.
“We have not heard anything from anyone in this regard,” the victim’s father said.
The family is in two minds over the verdict. While the father thinks the capital punishment for Roy would mean an end to any possibility of the “truth” behind his daughter’s brutal killing coming out, the mother feels Roy should get the death penalty.
“You saw in the RG Kar case, we had said we want the death penalty,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday during a government event in Malda. “Those who commit such poishachik otyachar (demonic torture), if someone is danobik (monstrous), pashobik (bestial), can society be manobik (humane)? Society must be made more humane.”
“How can it be said in the judgment? A judgment I did not like. That it is not a rarest of the rare case?” Mamata asked.
The CM, who has a law degree from Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, added: “I believe yes, it is a rare, sensitive, and very very heinous crime. If somebody can survive after committing such a crime, they will try to commit more crimes. Protecting that is not our duty.”
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna will on January 29 hear the suo motu case initiated by the apex court on the RG Kar incident, safety of doctors, nurses and paramedics.
