RG Kar Case: West Bengal govt moves Calcutta High Court, seeks death penalty for Sanjoy Roy

The West Bengal government on Tuesday filed an appeal before the Calcutta High Court division bench, challenging the Sealdah sessions court verdict in the Sanjoy Roy case and demanding the death penalty for the convicted murderer.

Advocate General Kishore Dutta moved division bench Justice Debangshu Basak in the matter which has been allowed to be filed.

"We had demanded the death penalty...we had even made law but central govt did not approve it. I am a lawyer, and I have studied law, if someone escapes after committing a crime, he will commit the crime again," said West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday.


The sessions court in Kolkata on Monday sentenced Roy, the main accused in the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College & Hospital in August 2024, to life imprisonment until death. In addition, Roy was fined Rs 50,000.

Justice Anirban Das, delivering the verdict, stated that he did not consider the case to be one of the "rarest of the rare," which would warrant the death penalty, and hence imposed life imprisonment.

Reacting to the sentencing in the case that caused shockwaves across the country and Bengal, Banerjee expressed dissatisfaction, stating that had the Kolkata Police handled the case, they would have ensured a death penalty.

Speaking to the media in Malda on Monday, the TMC supremo revealed that she had learned about the verdict through the media and reiterated the state's longstanding stance in favour of capital punishment.

"We have always demanded the death penalty, and we continue to stand by it. However, this is the court’s decision, and I cannot comment further. In three other cases, Kolkata Police ensured capital punishment through thorough investigations completed within 54-60 days," she had said.

The CM also contrasted the swift justice delivered in those cases with the delays in the RG Kar case, and noted the seriousness of the crime. "Had this case been under our purview, we would have ensured the death penalty long ago," she had added. In a post on X later, she further informed that the state government would be challenging the sessions court verdict and move the Calcutta High Court on the matter.