While the crime shocked India, where sexual violence against women is common, an Indian court on Monday, January 20, sentenced to life imprisonment a man convicted of the rape and murder of a doctor in Calcutta. The victim’s parents, who had called for the murderer to be sentenced to death by hanging, declared, in tears, to be “shocked” by the sentence that was imposed.
The judge, Anirban Das, ruled that this crime did not deserve the death penalty because it was not the “rarest of rare cases”. He ordered that Sanjoy Roy, 33, a volunteer working at the Calcutta hospital where the bloodied body of the 31-year-old practitioner was discovered, spend his life behind bars. Arrested in August, the day after the crime, and declared guilty on Saturday by the same court, he had proclaimed his innocence throughout his trial, claiming to have been ” trap “.
This tragedy sparked indignation across the country and some healthcare workers went on strike and demonstrated, demanding stricter security measures in public hospitals. At the end of this movement, the Supreme Court ordered the creation of a working group made up of doctors, and tasked with preparing a plan to prevent violence in hospitals, where working conditions are often deplorable.
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The trial was fast-tracked as the Indian justice system is usually slow. In the weeks following this crime, the attitude of local authorities and the conduct of the investigation was also the subject of strong criticism. The Calcutta police chief and several regional health officials were dismissed.
This tragedy recalled the one suffered by a young woman on a bus in the capital New Delhi in 2012, which highlighted the heavy silence surrounding sexual violence in the most populous country on the planet, the deficiencies of its judicial system in the fight against rape and, beyond that, the treatment of women in Indian society. Under pressure from public opinion, the government toughened legislation on sexual violence, even promulgating the death penalty for repeat offenders. The four men found guilty of the gang rape of the student were executed by hanging in March 2020.
