The Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected an appeal filed by the West Bengal government seeking a death sentence for Sanjoy Roy, who was convicted of the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. However, the court admitted a separate appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation with the same demand, Live Law reported.

The two-judge division bench dismissed the state government’s appeal but admitted the central agency’s plea contending the matter was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, thus making it the prosecution agency.

On January 20, the Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court in the city had found Roy guilty of the crime and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The trial judge refused to grant the death penalty to Roy, sought by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court said that the crime did not meet the “rarest of rare” criteria for capital punishment.

The “rarest of rare” doctrine is used in India to decide when to impose the death penalty in cases that are particularly brutal, heinous or depraved. The doctrine is often applied in cases of murder, rape and other serious crimes.

The Central Bureau of Investigation’s decision to challenge the trial court’s sentence came hours after it opposed a plea filed by the West Bengal government in the High Court on January 21.

The central agency had argued that only the victim’s family, the investigating authority or the convict can file an appeal. The state government contended that since the incident took place in a state-run hospital, and because law and order is a state subject, it should be allowed to appeal.

The 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead on the premises of the hospital on August 9. The incident had sparked protests across the country.

The case was initially investigated by the West Bengal Police and later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation by the High Court.

After the incident came to light, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front led protests for several weeks demanding the resignation of senior officials and an end to the “threat culture” in the state’s medical centres.

Healthcare services across West Bengal were impacted for several weeks as protesting doctors at state-run hospitals held a strike against the incident.

Roy was arrested by the police on August 10, the day after the body of the doctor was discovered in the hospital’s seminar room.

Three days later, the High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the matter.

The Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court held a daily trial after the chargesheet was filed in the matter on October 7. Roy had told the court that he was not involved in the incident and claimed that he was innocent.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is separately looking into alleged tampering of evidence in the case, and alleged corruption at the medical facility. The persons accused in the case include the hospital’s former principal Sandip Ghosh and an ex-officer-in-charge of the Tala police station, among others.

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