An Indian court has convicted the rape and murder of a trainee doctor, a crime that sparked national outrage.
Sanjay Roy, a hospital volunteer, was convicted of the attack in August last year at a hospital in the city of Kolkata in West Bengal state.
The incident sent shockwaves across the country, leading to widespread protests and concerns about the safety of healthcare workers in India, especially women.
Justice Anirban Das said the sentence, which will be announced on Monday, would range from life in prison to the death penalty. Roy has maintained his innocence and has previously said he was framed.
The victim’s mother told the AFP news agency that people would lose faith in the Indian justice system if Roy was not sentenced to death.
The body of the 31-year-old doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found on August 9, 2024 at the busy RG Kar State Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
After 36 hours of grueling work, she fell asleep in the hospital seminar room. His half-naked and seriously injured body was later discovered near a podium by a colleague.
The autopsy revealed that the victim had been strangled and had injuries showing that she had defended herself.
According to the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which the BBC has seen, Roy went to the hospital in a drunken state and found the female doctor sleeping alone.
He was arrested a day after the crime.
The case was initially being investigated by the Kolkata Police, but the court later handed over the investigation to the CBI after state officials were accused of mishandling the case.
For weeks after the incident, doctors and medical students across India held protests and rallies demanding justice and better safety for doctors.
One such protest, the “Reclaim the Night” march, saw tens of thousands of women march through the streets at night in Kolkata and other cities on August 14, the eve of India’s Independence Day. ‘India.
In December, the victim’s parents sought a fresh probe from the Calcutta High Court, expressing their lack of confidence in the CBI investigation.
They argued that Roy alone could not have committed the crime and said they would only be satisfied when everyone involved was brought to justice. The High Court said it would only consider the plea if the Supreme Court – which is monitoring the case – directs it to do so.
The incident has raised concerns about increasing cases of violence against health workers in India, many of whom face physical violence at the hands of angry patients or their relatives.
A 2017 survey by the Indian Medical Association found that more than 75% of Indian doctors have experienced some form of violence. The survey also found that nearly 63% of doctors fear potential violence when treating their patients.
Meanwhile, sexual violence against women remains a widespread problem in India. More than 31,000 rapes were reported in India in 2022, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Many rape cases in India go unreported, mainly due to the social stigma surrounding sexual violence and a lack of trust in the police and justice system. Campaigners say this often results in the victim being humiliated rather than the perpetrator, particularly in rural areas.
In 2012, the rape and murder of a medical student by a group of men in Delhi, the Indian capital, attracted worldwide attention and sparked similar, wider protests.
Public anger prompted authorities to change rape laws in 2013. The changes broadened the definition of the crime, set strict penalties for sexual assault and lowered the age at which a person can be tried from 18 to 16 years.
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