Discontent with the judgement of a Kolkata court pronouncing life imprisonment till death for the prime accused in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case, doctors in West Bengal on Monday said they would move to the higher court and continue protesting till others involved in the case were punished.
The doctors, both senior and junior, who had held protests several times since the crime took place on August 9, questioned why the case was not described as "rarest of the rare cases" despite an on-duty woman medic being raped and killed inside her workplace, a state-run hospital.
"It's an institutional crime and can never be the job of one person. There was more than one person involved in it. We cannot accept the quantum of punishment and the financial compensation to the family of the deceased. This is very unsatisfactory and unacceptable," Dr Rajiv Pandey, a senior doctor, said.
Pandey said they will discuss with the parents of the deceased medic and decide on the next step which could be moving to a higher court.
A Kolkata court sentenced Sanjay Roy to imprisonment till death on Monday after he was convicted of the rape and murder of the on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 last year.
The court also directed the state to pay compensation of ₹17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
Another senior doctor Dr Punyabrata Gun said that they would continue demonstrations in the state demanding justice for their deceased colleague.
"Our demonstration will continue as we believe that there were others involved. The matter has been hushed up and we will continue our protest," Gun said.
One of the junior medics, Aniket Mahato, who has been one of the prominent faces of the agitating doctors said they are not happy with the verdict.
"From Day one, we have been saying that there are multiple people involved in it. Where are the others? We will continue our protest on the road," Mahato said.
Additionally, Bharatiya Janata Party's IT department head Amit Malviya, who is also his party's organisational co-incharge for West Bengal, called for appealing against the judgement and for probe agencies to investigate the role of the then Kolkata commissioner and the chief minister for allegedly destroying the evidence.
He said on X, "Life imprisonment and a 50,000-rupee fine for Sanjoy Roy, accused in the RG Kar rape and murder case, is a travesty of justice. The verdict must be appealed." The junior doctors, who were at the forefront of the protests following the crime, have called for further investigation into the larger conspiracy allegations raised by the victim’s parents.
The crime sparked nationwide protests, particularly from junior doctors in Kolkata, who demanded justice for the victim and stronger security measures in state-run hospitals.
Initially investigated by Kolkata Police, Roy was arrested on August 10, a day after the medic’s body was found in a seminar room of the hospital.
The Calcutta High Court later transferred the case to the CBI, which had sought the death penalty for Roy.
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