Want To Know Your Views On Punishment: Court To RG Kar Rape-Murder Convict

Here's your 10-point cheat sheet to this big story

1. Roy, who was brought to the courtroom amid heavy security, pleaded that he was "framed" while Sessions Judge Anirban Das asserted the charges against him were proven during the trial. "It is punishable by death or life imprisonment," the judge said.

2. In his last ditch attempt to convince the court, the convict pointed to the allegations of evidence tampering. "I haven't done this. I have been framed. I heard lots of things were destroyed. If I had done it, my Rudraksha Mala would have broken. You decide whether I have been framed or not," the convict said.

3. The judge told the convict his lawyer had argued his case and that he had listened to him for three hours. "We have to deliver justice. The evidence produced before me is based on what I decide. The charges were proven. Now I want to know your views on the punishment," he told Roy.

4. The prosecution argued that the case falls under the "rarest of rarest" ambit and calls for the death penalty. "The death penalty should be given. It comes in the rarest of rare category and the confidence of the society has to be restored," the prosecution said.

5. Roy's lawyers agreed over the "rarest of rare" doctrine but argued on the possibility of reformation. "There are precedents where Supreme Court has said what is rarest of rare. The foremost criteria is when the door of reform and rehabilitation is completely closed. There must be evidence as to why reformation is not possible," they said.

6. Judge Das of the Sealdah court had Saturday declared Roy guilty of rape and murder of the trainee doctor on August 9 last year. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting the doctor and strangling her under Sections 64, 66 and 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

7. The judge said the over 160-page judgment, which will be completed after the pronouncement of the sentence today, will also categorically answer some questions raised by the complainant, the father of the victim.

8. The crime had led to nationwide outrage and prolonged protests. Sanjay Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was arrested on August 10, 2024, a day after the 31-year-old trainee doctor's body was found in the seminar room of the hospital.

9. Judge Das said he has in the judgement criticised some activities of the police and the hospital authorities. The investigation was transferred from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the Calcutta High Court.

10. Sanjay Roy's family has said they will not challenge the conviction. "We apologise to the members of the victim's family. The law has found my brother guilty and he will be punished accordingly. I have nothing else to say. The administration will do what is right. What we desire really does not matter," his elder sister said.