'Sanjay Roy is not alone.'
'If he's kept alive, maybe we will know what happened.'
'Why was he in the chest medicine department that night when he never went there earlier?'
'Nobody will parade in front of a CCTV camera and then go and murder someone.'
'There are several people who are involved in this heinous crime. They have to be identified and punished.'
"If you can't find the house from the map location, ask for Tilottama's house," the father says over the phone.
Tilottama is the postgraduate trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital, while she was on night duty on the August 9, 2024.
Tilottama is not her real name, of course. Indian laws prohibit naming a rape victim. In her home state, West Bengal, she is called Tilottama (one who is made up of the highest qualities) and Abhaya (the fearless one).
At the town in West Bengal where she lived, a man is talking on the phone on a narrow road.
"Tilottama'r baari? (Tilottama's house?)"
"Down that lane, it's the second house," the man says.
Paritosh Roy lives a few houses from Tilottama's house. "I know them very well. She used to practice at a pharmacy for a few years; just down the road. She would carry a small haversack on her back and would walk up this road. She was polite and pleasant but always very busy.
"When we heard she had committed suicide, everyone in this locality said she is not the kind of person who takes her own life."
Tilottama, as she is referred to in West Bengal, means 'one who is made up of the highest qualities'.
Her parents say she was a "diamond".
Their two-storey house has her name plate and on the wall by the main door. Below the name is her qualification: 'Pulmonary physician'.
Her parents have never allowed the media to enter the house. All bytes to the media are given at their door, but they concede and we walk past the stairwell to a room on the ground floor.
This is her father's tailoring workshop. Two men measure and cut from a navy blue bolt of cloth. The father makes school uniforms and on the shelves of all the walls in the room are stacked stitched school uniforms in transparent plastic packets, cheek-by-jowl with bolts of the same navy blue cloth. This is not a one-man unit, but a small business.
"I work 16 hours a day. I don't fear hard work and neither did my daughter," he says. "But my zeal for working hard is over. Whom do I work so hard for now that she's gone?"
On January 20, 2025, Sanjay Roy, a former civic volunteer with the Kolkata police, was found guilty under Sections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death), and 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The judge ruled that it was not the rarest or rare case and therefore could not hand out the death penalty.
"We are shocked. My daughter was raped and murdered while she was on duty at the hospital. She was brutalised. Why should Sanjay Roy not hang?" Tilottama's father asks
Her mother, petite and erudite, however, says, she couldn't care less what happened to Roy. "Let him be in jail. How does it matter what happens to him, that's not our headache. He hasn't opened his mouth so far except to say he was framed.
"If he's kept alive, maybe we will know what happened. Why was he in the chest medicine department that night when he never went there earlier? Nobody will parade in front of a CCTV camera and then go and murder someone.
"We want the others rounded up and brought to justice. We are not unhappy with the sentencing."
In conversation with Swarupa Dutt/Rediff.com at their home in Bengal, Tilottama's parents speak about the case and August 9, 2024, when life as they knew it, ended for them. The first of a 3-part interview.
The incident happened under West Bengal Chief Minister and Health Minister Mamata Banerjee's watch. Do you hold her responsible?
RG Kar principal, Sandip Ghosh, West Bengal Health Minister Mamata Banerjee, the doctors who were on duty that night, the commissioner of police -- they are all responsible.
Would the law and order in the state improve if Mamata Banerjee stepped down as CM?
A resignation won't suffice. The entire party has to be uprooted and thrown out.
She monitored everything that happened after my daughter's death. Everything was done under her directions. I'm taking full responsibility for making this remark because it's the truth.
The West Bengal government has moved the high court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy. Do you find this ironic?
She seems more upset now at Sanjay Roy not getting the death penalty than she was when my daughter was murdered. She keeps saying she is grieved at the sentencing.
If Roy should be hanged, so should Vineet Goyal (the Kolkata police commissioner at the time of the incident who was replaced in September). He was there that morning erasing evidence. He knows who killed my daughter.
Sanjay Roy has been given a life term. You wanted the death penalty. What next?
The judge has seen evidence presented before him over the last two months and on the basis of the charge-sheet has given the verdict. Sanjay is guilty and was found guilty. Everyone did. But we thought he would get the death sentence.
But Sanjay is not alone. There are several people who are involved in this heinous crime. They have to be identified and punished.
On the day of the sentencing, the judge asked us in court if we would accept the Rs 17 lakh compensation. We refused; we want justice, not money.
Will you approach a higher court now?
We have asked for the case to be handed over to the high court from the Supreme Court.
When we approached the high court, all we wanted was an impartial judgment. The court asked the CBI to take over the case. But the CBI has not been able to answer our questions.
So we have asked the high court 54 questions that we want answered. We hope the court will get the questions answered from the CBI.
What are the questions?
For instance, the CBI did not collect the duty roster from August 9. The CBI did not speak to the staff, who were on duty that night, like nurses, ward boys, doctors.
The person who called us from RG Kar that day, the assistant superintendent, Dr Arkoprova Hati, hasn't even been questioned.
The local MLA, the commissioner of police, the Trinamool politicians, should be charged with evidence tampering, but the CBI hasn't done anything of the kind.
These are just two examples. There are 52 more questions we have asked the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the case in August and the case will be heard in March.
Who is helping you with the case?
We have our own lawyer. The lawyer for the lower court is charging us a small amount, and we are paying both the high court and Supreme Court lawyers.
Earlier, Vrinda Grover was handling the case suo motu for us, but she is responsible for putting the case on the back foot. It was she who insisted that there was only one perpetrator despite evidence to the contrary. She does not represent us since December.
What happened with Grover? Her chamber provided legal services pro bono to you before all the four courts from September 2024.
I was called to the court on day 1 of the trial when witnesses were being called in. But then onwards, the CBI and Vrinda Grover's lawyer did not allow us inside the court. We found it suspicious, but thought it was the norm. Then Sanjay Roy only began appearing virtually.
The moment we changed our lawyer we were allowed to be present in court. And we haven't missed a single hearing. We did not like the way the case was being handled by Vrinda Grover.
Have you come face-to-face with Sanjay Roy in court?
Yes, the way he talks, his demeanour... there is absolutely no doubt in our minds that he is a criminal. He is responsible for my daughter's rape and murder and there is evidence to back it. But there are others involved.
You have said over and over again that there are several perpetrators.
The MIMB (Multi Institutional Medical Board) was led by Adarsh Kumar [a forensic expert, submitted an eight-page report that contains nine major points, which says it was possible for one person to kill and rape her] . We showed the DNA report to another expert and he said there was enough DNA evidence to point to the presence of other people at the scene of crime.
What did Adarsh Kumar base his report on?
Either he did not see the DNA report or he pretended not to see it. [The Central Forensic Science Laboratory report found the DNA of at least five individuals on the victim's body with CCTV footage capturing the movements of 68 people in the seminar hall].
The protests that erupted in West Bengal and across the nation have only happened one other time, during the Nirbhaya case. The people of West Bengal stood by you, but the protests have died down. Do you believe the case is losing its momentum?
That's normal. People are aware that the case is being heard by the court; they believe justice will be done. So, yes there is a certain amount of silence.
But I want people to know that even though the accused has been sentenced, there are several others walking around free and the verdict is just the tip of the iceberg.
We have to traverse many miles, fight many battles to get justice and for that we need the people to stand by us.
© 2025