A Volunteer's Crime: Life Sentence for Doctor's Murder in Kolkata

In Kolkata, India, a police volunteer named Sanjay Roy has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. The case, which occurred in August, sparked national outrage and protests by doctors demanding better security in public hospitals. Roy was convicted based on circumstantial evidence, but the judge did not classify the crime as "rarest-of-rare, " which would have warranted the death penalty. The federal police, who investigated the case, disagreed with this classification. The parents of the victim, who were present in court, had sought the death penalty and expressed their dissatisfaction with the probe, suspecting a larger conspiracy. The trial, which was not open to the public, involved 128 witnesses, with 51 being examined during the fast-tracked process that began in November.