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Asserting that the RG Kar incident was a "rare, heinous and sensitive crime," West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee on Tuesday said if someone gets away after committing a crime, he will again do it and "it is not our job to give him protection."
Expressing dismay once again over the Sealdah court's decision to award life imprisonment till death to Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the rape-murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run hospital in Kolkata, Banerjee said she has been seeking capital punishment for him.
"If someone is so demonic and barbaric, how can society remain humane? We passed the Aparajita Bill, but the Centre is sitting on it. We have included the death penalty in that Bill and we want it to become a model for the country," Banerjee said at a public meeting in Malda.
On Monday, Banerjee expressed dissatisfaction with the court's decision and said the investigation was "forcibly" taken away from the state police.
She claimed that if the police had handled it, they would have ensured death penalty.
Banerjee said, "If someone is given life imprisonment, then the person can get parole. If someone commits a crime, should we forgive him? We have encountered cases where people have gone out (of prison) within three months and even on parole. I am really very shocked by the judgment. I was once a lawyer and fought several cases. The Sealdah court judge said it was not the rarest of rare cases and could not award capital punishment. If this is not the rarest of rare cases then what is?"
The Aparajita Bill passed by the West Bengal Assembly in September 2024 seeks capital punishment for rape convicts if their actions result in the victim's death or leave her in a vegetative state and stipulates life sentence without parole for other perpetrators.
In a post on X, Banerjee said the state government would challenge the Sealdah court's verdict and move Calcutta High Court.
Meanwhile, the Calcutta high court on Tuesday granted permission to the West Bengal government to file an appeal against the Sealdah court order.
Advocate General Kishor Datta moved a division bench presided by Justice Debangsu Basak to file the appeal to seek death penalty of Roy, the sole convict in the case.