Proportionate to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “disappointment and shock” at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder convict not getting the death sentence, her government on Tuesday moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking the death penalty for Sanjoy Roy, the accused.
This, while the parents of “Abhaya,” the victim lady doctor who was raped and murdered in the wee hours of August 9, 2024, inside her own hospital premises, literally thrust aside Banerjee’s “sympathy,” requesting her to “keep off our daughter’s matter and let us fight for justice.” The Division Bench of Justice Debangshu Basak promptly allowed the matter to be filed after Advocate General Kishore Dutta moved on behalf of the State, seeking the death penalty for Roy.
“I was aghast to see that the death penalty was not allowed in this matter... when someone turns a demon, can society be human? If someone commits a crime, should we forgive them? This will encourage him to commit such crimes again,” Banerjee thundered from a public meeting at Malda, asking, “How does the judgment say it is not the ‘rarest of rare’ (case)? I say it is rare, sensitive, and heinous.”
Banerjee had on Monday blamed the Central Bureau of Investigation for failing to prove their case in the Sealdah District and Sessions Court, praising her own State Police for ensuring speedy justice in similar other cases.
Banerjee’s statement was stoutly backed by Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, who directly blamed the CBI for its “untidy investigation.” He said, “It is for the CBI to explain how the convict eluded the death sentence as the case was being dealt with by them after it was taken away from the Kolkata Police and given to them... in fact, the Kolkata Police had arrested Sanjoy Roy before his custody was transferred to the CBI... the State Police during this period has cracked four cases at Farakka, Mathabhanga, Gurap, and Kultali and ensured the death sentence in all the cases.”
However, the father of the victim rejected the State Government’s approach and requested the Chief Minister to keep off the matter.
“You have done enough... we need no more favors... please keep off the case... let us fight our own battle,” the father of the victim said rather acerbically. “Had the Chief Minister been serious about the case, she would have acted with purpose when she was required to do so by properly directing the police not to allow tampering of the evidence so that the other bigger and more powerful people involved in the act could be arrested... she did not act while her own police administration was destroying evidence... Whatever the Chief Minister has done till date, she should not do any further.”
Incidentally, Banerjee is in charge of both the Home and Health portfolios.
The mother of the victim also said that she did not need money. “I do not need money. I need only justice... the Police tried to bribe us by offering Rs 10 lakh... we know at whose instance these were happening... then the Trinamool Congress students’ wing offered us Rs 4 crore... don’t we know why these things were being done... to save whom... the stakes are so high that they are ready to do everything to save some highly connected people.”
Meanwhile, in a parallel incident, the decomposed body of a teenage girl was dug up by the police from the paddy fields at Basanti in South 24 Parganas. The girl, a Class VIII student, was missing for the past 12 days, police said. Three persons have been arrested in connection with the case. Locals said she was picked up by a local youth and was later raped and murdered.