Indian police volunteer sentenced to life in prison for raping, murdering junior doctor Sexual assault news

The murder of a 31-year-old doctor at a public hospital in Kolkata has highlighted the country's long-standing problem of violence against women.

An Indian court has sentenced a police volunteer to life in prison after being convicted of raping and murdering a junior doctor at a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata.

Justice Anirban Das on Monday dismissed a request for the death penalty against Sanjay Roy, saying it was not “the rarest of rare cases” and ordered that the 33-year-old convict must spend time in jail rest of life.

Roy has always maintained his innocence and claimed he was framed. He can appeal to a higher court.

The bloody body of the 31-year-old trainee doctor was found on August 9 in a classroom at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. An autopsy found she had been strangled and sexually assaulted.

Her parents broke down in tears in court on Monday, saying they were “shocked” by the verdict and hoped her killer would be hanged as the case highlighted chronic violence in the world's most populous country. Women's issues.

“We are shocked by the verdict,” the victim's father told AFP in tears. “We will continue our fight and will not let the investigation stop… No matter what happens, we will fight for justice.”

The family members cannot be identified under India's laws on reporting cases of sexual violence.

Federal police investigating the case considered the crime to be in the “rare of the rare” category and called for the death penalty for Roy. The state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has also demanded his death.

Roy was arrested the day after the murder, and arguments in the case began in November. The attack prompted India's Supreme Court to set up a national task force to come up with ways to strengthen security at government hospitals.

Following the attack, doctors and medical students across India held protests and rallies demanding better security. Thousands of women are also protesting in the streets, demanding speedy trials in the country's slow justice system.

India imposes the death penalty but rarely enforces it in practice. The most recent execution was in March 2020, after four men were convicted of the 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in the capital New Delhi.

The killing of the doctor drew comparisons to an incident in 2012 and led to calls for better security by doctors at government hospitals.

Activists say the new sentencing requirements have not deterred rape, with the number of recorded rapes increasing. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape in 2022, a 20% increase on 2021.