Kolkata RG Kar Hospital case: The high-profile Kolkata doctor rape and murder case concluded after a city court sentenced Sanjay Roy, the accused, to life imprisonment till death on Monday. Roy was convicted of the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Saturday. However, the case is likely to move to the higher courts, depending on the two parties' next move. Roy was held guilty of the crime committed against the postgraduate trainee doctor at the hospital on August 9 last year, which sparked off unprecedented and prolonged nationwide protests led by doctors.
'Not the rarest of the rare'
Judge Anirban Das said the crime did not fall under the "rarest of the rare" category as justification for not giving the death penalty to the convict. The court also directed the state to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police, was held guilty under Sections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death), and 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Demand for death sentence
Though the court did not give a death sentence to the accused, the protesting doctors and the victim's parents demanded capital punishment for Roy, who brutally killed the victim after raping her on the premises of the hospital.
In India 'capital punishment' is given in only the 'rarest of the rare' cases. The death sentences are also criticised by a quarter, citing humanitarian grounds. Notwithstanding, there were some occasions in the history of the Indian judiciary in which the judges pronounced the death penalty.?
Here, we listed five rare rape cases:
Delhi Nirbhaya case 2012: A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was beaten, gang-raped, and brutally tortured on a moving bus in Delhi's Munirka on December 16, 2012, triggering nationwide protests over women's safety. The case has been historic as the protesting youth compelled the government to make laws to ensure women's safety. A fast-track court pronounced death sentences to four adult accused—Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, and Vinay Sharma—on September 10, 2013. Later, three of them were hanged to death on March 20, 2020. One accused—Ram Singh—committed suicide in Tihar jail.
Kolkata rape and murder case 1990: Almost two decades ago, Dhananjoy Chatterjee hit the headlines after a court convicted him for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl on March 5, 1990. After 14 years of the heinous crime, Chatterjee was executed in Kolkata on August 14, 2004.?
Rape and murder case 1996-98: In the late 1990s, serial killer and rapist Umesh Reddy created panic among people in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. According to the police record, he killed 18 women. Reddy was convicted in 9 cases. The Karnataka High Court pronounced the death sentence to Reddy in 2009. Later, the High Court order was upheld by the Supreme Court of India in 2011.?
Ripper Chandran case: Muthukutty Chandran, also known as Ripper Chandran, was a serial killer from Kerala. He committed several egregious crimes, including rape in 1985-86. Chandran was hanged to death in 1991 for killing fourteen people and raping several women.
Odisha rape and murder case: Laxman Naik was hanged to death on July 16, 1994, for raping and murdering a minor girl in the forest in Odisha. He was hanged to death at Berhampore Circle Jail.
Also read:?RG Kar rape-murder case: Convict Sanjay Roy sentenced to life imprisonment by local court
