He turned left to his lawyer and right to the judge. That movement continued for 25 minutes as the lawyer argued why he should not be hanged and the judge peppered her with questions.

At the Sealdah court, Sanjay Roy appeared calmer than he had been before the judge pronounced him guilty on Saturday.

With Roy in the witness box, lawyer Senjuthi Chakraborty presented her arguments on why her client should not be hanged.

Judge Anirban Das listened to her arguments and frequently interrupted her.

They spoke in English and Roy kept looking left and right.

Courtroom No. 210 had moveable guardrails fitted with wheels to create a passage for the convict to pass, something not there when the verdict was announced on Saturday.

The guardrails stretched right from the courtroom door to the witness box.

Police lined the guardrails to prevent an attack on the convict.

Roy was escorted into the courtroom at 12.30pm. Some of the cops shouted “create a hand-chain, create a hand-chain” more than once to their colleagues.

Roy wore the same ashen sweatshirt with orange collars as on Saturday.

Das, the additional district and sessions judge, Sealdah, explained to Roy in Bengali why he was in the court on Monday.

“You have been held guilty of rape and murder. The punishment could be life imprisonment or death by hanging. What do you have to say on this?” the judge said.

The former Kolkata Police civic volunteer again said he was being framed.

The judge told him that he was in the court only to speak on the quantum of punishment.

When the judge asked him where he lived, Roy said: “Aami police camp-e thaki (I stay in a police camp).”

Roy used to stay in the barracks of the fourth battalion of the city police in Salt Lake before he was arrested on August 10 for the rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

When the judge asked him if anyone in the family had contacted him during his stay in jail, Roy said after a pause: “No one contacted me.”

Between 12.35pm and 1pm, defence lawyer Chakraborty submitted that her client be spared the gallows.

During the period, the parents of the slain doctor, seated in the second row, looked several times at Roy. They also stood up several times, possibly so they could follow the proceedings better.

At 1.05pm, Roy was asked to leave the court. He was told that he would be produced again at 2.45pm for the sentencing.

On Saturday, Roy had firmly said “don’t push me” twice as he was being dragged out of the court by the police. That show of defiance was missing on Monday.

The courtroom was packed beyond capacity when Roy was brought back at 2.50pm. Lawyers from other courtrooms had descended on room No. 210.

The convict’s eyes remained fixed on the judge this time.

Will he spend the rest of his life in prison or be executed?

As the judge said in Bengali that he was being spared the gallows, Roy looked up at the ceiling.

When the judge was exiting the courtroom at 2.55pm, Roy turned towards his lawyer and said something. He could be seen shaking his head disapprovingly.

Metro asked lawyer Chakraborty about her conversation with Roy. She said: “Sanjay said ‘I have been proved a rapist, I have got a bad name now’.”

Roy left the courtroom at 3pm quiet and calm, amid thick police cover. The parents of the victim were still in the courtroom, looking dejected.