GIST: "A trial court is set to deliver the RG Kar rape-murder verdict on Jan 18, more than five months after a 31-year-old junior doctor was violated and brutally killed in the state govt-run medical college and hospital, setting off a wave of protests in Kolkata, ripples of which were felt around the world.
CBI, which is investigating the matter, demanded death for Sanjay Roy, the primary accused, in its closing arguments on Thursday at the Sealdah sessions court, citing multiple reports: biological samples, CCTV footage analysis, testimonies of 50 witnesses - which, it said, proved he was the sole perpetrator of the "monstrous crime".
The central agency's lawyers also said that the rape-murder was a "rarest of rare" crime, fit for capital punishment.
Roy has been implicated under 103(1), 64, and 66 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deal with murder, rape and for causing death or leaving the victim in a persistent vegetative state. If convicted, Roy will either be sentenced to death or face life behind bars.Defence lawyer Sourav Bandyopadhyay, chief of the Legal Aid Defence Council Service, South 24 Parganas, said in his final submission that Roy was innocent, and that he was being framed by planted evidence.
Our protests will continue till 'real culprits' are brought to book: Docs
After the announcement that the verdict in the R G Kar rape and murder case will be pronounced at Sealdah trial court around 2.30 pm on Jan 18, members of the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front (WBJDF) said that their protest movement would continue until the "real culprits" of the heinous crime were brought to book.
Junior doctors of the front said they were not satisfied with the probe by CBI, which has demanded death penalty for main accused Sanjay Roy.
Asfaqulla Naiya of RG Kar said, "We have repeatedly said that more than one person were involved in the crime. So, who are the other people? All central forensic reports have indicated that committing the crime was not possible by a single person. It is also questionable whether the seminar room was the actual crime scene. We heard the court will give a verdict in the rape-murder nine days later. But there is nothing to cheer about for us."
Another leading voice of the movement, Aniket Mahato, also a junior doctor of RG Kar, said, "We anticipate that based on CBI's primary charge sheet, the court may sentence Roy to death. But we don't believe that he committed the crime alone. Until the real culprits involved are punished, our protests will continue."
The trial banked on the primary charge sheet by CBI that did not submit any supplementary charge sheet, said Debasish Haldar, a WBJDF member and a junior doctor of Medical College Kolkata. "That Sanjay Roy was involved has been established but it is not true that he was the only one. Whether Roy is given the death penalty or life imprisonment is a separate matter. But we keep saying that by sentencing Roy to death or life imprisonment, justice cannot be served. If one of the accused is hanged and the rest roam around freely, this is not called justice," said Haldar.
Ankush Ghosh, a junior doctor of CNMCH, said, "We will have to raise our voice against punishing one and guarding others."
In response to a protest call by WBJDF, doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers marched in a rally from College Square to Shyambazar on Thursday. They also participated in a sit-in protest at Shyambazar. Sajal Biswas, general secretary of Service Doctors' Forum, said, "CCTV footage shows movement of at least 68 people. Each of them should be interrogated, and the CBI should give a supplementary charge sheet. If true justice is not served, the movement will continue."
Biplab Chandra, state secretary of Medical Service Center, said: "It was impossible for Roy alone to commit the murder. Therefore, we must intensify our movement based on the court's verdict on Jan 18.""
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/news/content/ar-BB1rcAgA?ocid=sapphireappshare
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
