Indian Police Volunteers Sentenced to Life in Rape and Murder of Kolkata Doctor

An Indian court has sentenced a volunteer police officer to life in prison for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor who was attacked while on duty in Kolkata last August – a crime that sparked widespread protests across the country.

The hearing, which began in November and was held behind closed doors, was quickly followed by the outcry that many people took to the streets to express their anger at the chronic violence against women in India and the lack of security measures to protect female doctors.

During a sentencing hearing in India’s East Bengal state on Monday, Judge Anirban Das said that while it was a heinous crime, it was not an “infrequent” case that shocked society at large. Therefore death sentence was not appropriate for Sanjay Roy.

“You will be in prison until the last day of your life,” Roy said when sentencing him on both counts of rape and murder.

Before the sentence was handed down, Roy pleaded with the court not to sentence him to death, reiterating that he believed he was innocent and that he was a suspect.

‘Justice is still pending’

Roy, 33, worked informally at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a government-run teaching hospital where the victim’s body was found in the seminar hall. He reportedly went to the hall to rest after a 36-hour shift for legal reasons.

Her body was half-naked and severely mutilated, an autopsy revealed she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Roy was arrested the day after the victim was found and formally charged last October, and federal investigators later said he was captured on CCTV footage entering the seminary hall.

After the conviction was confirmed on Saturday but the sentencing was pending, the victim’s mother told reporters that Roy did not act alone but others have not yet been arrested. So justice was not served.

On Monday, the doctor’s parents broke down in tears at the hearing and said they were disappointed that he would be sentenced to death.

Her father told Agence France-Presse: “We are shocked by the verdict. We will continue our fight… no matter what, we will fight for justice.

Protesters who gathered outside the courthouse on Monday also expressed their displeasure with the sentence.

The victim’s parents have alleged that the West Bengal Police had earlier tried. Delay the investigation and destroy the evidence.

The victim’s parents told the court that they did not want any money, but the court awarded 1,700,000 rupees (about 28,500 CD) to the family. “I only want justice for our son – nothing else,” said the father.

The case was initially investigated by police in Kolkata, but was later handed over to federal investigators after state officials were accused of mishandling the case.

“I am … surprised, shocked and very emotional,” said Dr Sayantani Ghosh Hazra, a resident at Kolkata’s KPC Medical College and Hospital, while delivering Monday’s verdict.

“Justice is still pending,” she said, citing her belief that more people were involved in the crime.

Hazra was heavily involved in the protests following the rape and murder, fasting for 17 days in protest.

She said everyone is hungry for justice until they get a full account of what happened that night.

Security concerns do not disappear

Months after the attack, Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital is still plastered with posters and graffiti condemning the rape, and many see it as negligence on the part of the authorities to fully investigate the crime.

“We feel like we’ve lost our sister,” said Dr. Asfaqula Naiya, a resident at the same hospital as the victim, in an interview with CBC before the sentence was handed down. He explained that it was shocking that the attack took place in a seminar hall where doctors were taught to “save life, not kill life”.

Naya wants Roy’s punishment to serve as an example to make them think “a thousand times” before falling in love with a woman, and to “strike fear” into would-be rapists.

The brutal rapes and murders sparked nationwide protests and weeks of doctors’ strikes, with thousands of women marching around the clock demanding justice and reversing victim-blaming.

Rimjim Sinha, one of the organizers of that protest and subsequent rally, said Monday’s verdict must be linked to real social change to make a difference.

Sinha, an activist and researcher focused on women’s rights in India, said, “Even the death penalty does not guarantee the elimination of rape culture in our society, regardless of the number of cases in which criminals are sentenced to death by hanging.”

“Women are not considered human,” she says. We are considered property or something that someone should keep as a trophy.

Sinha says little has changed in India since the 2012 gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a Delhi bus that shocked the country and sparked massive protests. That case led to harsher penalties for rape and fast-tracked courts to deal with rape charges.

Others, like 22-year-old medical student Debamita Das, are skeptical that a life sentence would provide adequate safety measures for female healthcare workers. In the wake of the attack, India’s Supreme Court has set up a national task force to improve security in government hospitals.

“How can a murder happen in the hospital (while the victim is at work)?” Das told CBC News.

“I’ll be doing my internship in three years, how safe will I feel?”