NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the suo motu case addressing the safety of medical professionals, initiated in the wake of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder incident, to January 29.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan, was hearing the suo motu case.
Due to time constraints, the CJI remarked, “I received the list this morning. I believe three applications have been filed by you (addressing Senior Advocate Karuna Nandy) — one for additional documents, another for directions, and others. Please provide a copy to the other side. We will take it up next Wednesday at 2 PM.”
The sole accused in the case, Sanjay Roy, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Kolkata on January 20. Dissatisfied with the verdict, the West Bengal government also filed an appeal in the Calcutta high court, seeking a death penalty for Roy.
“I am convinced this is a rarest of rare case that demands capital punishment. We will insist on the death penalty in this most sinister and sensitive case,” Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.
Meanwhile, the Calcutta high court said on Wednesday that it would hear the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the victim’s family, and the convict before deciding on the admission of the state government’s appeal. The matter has been scheduled for hearing on January 27.
The CBI, however, opposed the state’s right to file the appeal, arguing that as the prosecuting agency, it held the right to challenge the trial court’s verdict on grounds of inadequate sentencing.
The special court, while sentencing Roy to life imprisonment on Januray 20, rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) contention that the crime qualified as “rarest of rare.” Judge Anirban Das imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Roy and directed the West Bengal government to pay Rs 17 lakh as compensation to the victim’s family. The court said that the crime occurred at the victim’s workplace, a state-government entity, making the government responsible for the compensation.
The horrific crime, which involved the rape and murder of a woman doctor at a state-run hospital, triggered outrage across the country.