KOLKATA, Jan 27: The Calcutta High Court on Monday reserved its order on the admission of two appeals, one by the West Bengal government and the other by the CBI, challenging a trial court order which sentenced RG Kar hospital rape-murder convict Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment till death.
Both the CBI and the state government separately prayed for capital punishment for the convict.
The court’s division bench, presided by Justice Debangsu Basak, heard both the state government and the CBI, who argued that the January 20 order of the Sealdah sessions court sentencing Roy, the sole convict in the crime, to life imprisonment till death was inadequate.
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The CBI claimed before the bench that only it has the right to move an appeal before the high court on the grounds of inadequacy of sentence since it was the investigation and prosecution agency of the case.
The state government argued that apart from the central agency, it too can move an appeal claiming inadequacy of sentence given by the trial court.
The parents of the victim doctor and the convict were represented before the court by their respective lawyers as per the earlier direction of the division bench.
Roy was sentenced to life imprisonment till the end of his natural life by the Sealdah sessions court here for the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024.
Representing the CBI before the high court, additional solicitor general S V Raju submitted that the agency had registered an FIR in the rape-murder of the doctor after the case was handed over to it by the high court.
He said that on the order of the high court, papers related to the case were handed over by the Kolkata Police to the CBI.
Raju stated that the chargesheet was submitted by the CBI before the trial court on October 7 and the charge against Roy was framed before it on November 4.
He further informed the division bench, also comprising Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi, that Roy was convicted by the Sealdah court on January 18 and the sentence was pronounced on January 20.
The ASG submitted that the state did not have any say in the investigation or the trial in the case and had not even submitted any application before the sessions court seeking to participate in the trial.
Raju stated that the state is suddenly showing interest in the matter at this stage, seeking admission of its appeal challenging the quantum of sentence awarded by the trial court.
He claimed that the state’s appeal is not admissible as it has no authority to do so.
The lawyers for both the complainant parents and the convict stated before the court that they have no submission to make on the question of admission of appeal by the state and the CBI.
Advocate General Kishore Dutta, representing the West Bengal government, submitted that the state can also move an appeal claiming inadequacy of sentence to a convict even if the investigation and prosecution was done by a central agency.
The court asked the AG then why in matters related to central agencies like the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) or the Railway Protection Force (RPF) the state does not enter appeal before the high court if there is a possible inadequacy of sentence to a convict in a case.
The division bench said that in this R G Kar Hospital case, the high court had ordered the CBI to hold the investigation. (PTI)
