CBC
A court in India has sentenced a police volunteer to life in prison for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor who was attacked while on duty in Kolkata last August — a crime that sparked widespread protests across the country.The trial, which started in November and was held in a closed court, was fast-tracked because of the outcry, with many people taking to the streets to voice their anger over chronic violence against women in India, as well as the lack of security measures to keep female doctors safe.During a sentencing hearing on Monday in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, Judge Anirban Das said while a heinous crime, it was not a "rarest of rare" case that shocked society as a whole. Therefore, the death penalty was not appropriate for Sanjay Roy."You will be in prison until the last day of your life," Das said, as he sentenced Roy on both counts of rape and murder.Before the sentence came down, Roy pleaded before the court to avoid being sentenced to death, reiterating that he was innocent and that he believed he was being framed. 'Justice is still pending'Roy, 33, worked informally as a police volunteer at the state-run teaching hospital where the victim's body was found in a seminar hall on Aug. 9. The 31-year old doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had reportedly gone to the hall to rest after a 36-hour shift.Her body was half-naked and had severe injuries, with an autopsy finding she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.Roy was arrested the day after the victim was found and formally charged last October, with federal investigators later revealing he was arrested after being captured on CCTV footage entering the seminar hall.A police officer asks people to clear the way after they gathered outside the court ahead of the sentencing for Sanjay Roy in Kolkata, India, on Monday. (Bikas Das/The Associated Press)After the guilty verdict was confirmed Saturday, but with the sentencing still pending, the victim's mother told reporters that she believed Roy did not act alone but "others have not been arrested yet. So justice hasn't been delivered."On Monday, the doctor's parents broke into tears inside the courtroom, saying they were dismayed that their hope for a death sentence was dashed."We are shocked by the verdict," her father told Agence France-Presse. "We will continue our fight … come what may, we will fight for justice." A crowd of protesters also gathered outside the court Monday to voice their displeasure with the sentence.The victim's parents had previously alleged that West Bengal police tried to delay the investigation and tamper with evidence. The court also awarded 1,700,000 rupees (around $28,500 Cdn) in compensation to the family, even though the victim's parents told the court they did not want any money. "I only want justice for our daughter — nothing else," the father said.The case was initially investigated by police in Kolkata but was later handed over to federal investigators after state officials were accused of mishandling it. "I am … aghast, astounded and very emotional," said Dr. Sayantani Ghosh Hazra, a resident at KPC Medical College and Hospital, in reaction to Monday's sentencing."Justice is still pending," she said, referring to her belief that more people were involved in the crime.Hazra was heavily involved in the demonstrations that followed the rape and murder, even fasting in protest for 17 days."Everybody is starved for justice," she said, until there's a full account of what occurred that night. Safety concerns not going awayMonths after the attack, Kolkata's RG Kar hospital is still plastered with posters and graffiti denouncing the rape and what many see as a reluctance from authorities to investigate the crime fully."We feel like we lost our sister," Dr. Asfakulla Naiya, a resident at the same hospital as the victim, told CBC News in an interview before the sentence came down. He emphasized the shock that the attack happened in a seminar hall where doctors are taught to "save lives, not take lives."Dr. Asfakulla Naiya, a resident at RG Kar hospital where the incident occurred, said he hoped Roy's prison sentence would serve as a deterrent. (Salimah Shivji/CBC)Naiya wanted Roy's sentence to set an example and "strike fear" in potential rapists so they would think "a thousand times" before assaulting a woman.The brutal rape and murder prompted nationwide rallies and doctors strikes for weeks, with thousands of women calling for justice and pushing back against victim-blaming in one demonstration called Reclaim the Night.Rimjhim Sinha, one of the organizers of that protest and subsequent gatherings, said Monday's sentencing should be coupled with real societal change for it to make any difference."Even capital punishment is not really ensuring the eradication of rape culture in our society, no matter how many cases where the perpetrators have been assigned to death by hanging," said Sinha, an activist and researcher focusing on women's rights in India.WATCH l Tears for victim's father, anger from demonstrators (from Sept. 5): "Women are not even considered humans," she said. "We are considered as if we are property, or we are something that somebody should just keep as a trophy."Sinha said not much has changed culturally in India since the 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year old student on a Delhi bus shocked the country and sparked huge protests. That case resulted in harsher penalties for rape and fast-tracked courts to deal with charges of assault.Still others, like 22-year old medical student Debasmita Das, are skeptical that the life sentence handed down will lead to more adequate security measures for female health-care workers. India's Supreme Court set up a national task force in the wake of the attack to look at enhancing security in government hospitals."How can a murder happen inside the hospital [while the victim was] on duty?" Das told CBC News."I'll be doing my internship in three years. How will I feel safe?"
