A new bench has been established in the Calcutta High Court to address the case of the brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in August 2024. Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Rai Chattopadhayay now constitute this new bench. The previous bench, consisting of Justices Debangshu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi, recused itself from the case earlier this month due to not handling criminal matters anymore.
The earlier bench was designated to handle the case by the then Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, as it was dealing with criminal cases at that time. Following the recusal of Justices Basak and Rashidi, the matter was referred back to the current Chief Justice Sujoy Paul. Finally, Chief Justice Paul assigned the case to the new division bench of Justice Mantha and Justice Chattopadhayay for further proceedings.
The incident, which occurred on August 9, 2024, involved the discovery of the body of a junior doctor from R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in a seminar hall on the hospital premises. The sole accused, Sanjay Roy, a former civic volunteer of Kolkata Police, was convicted by a Kolkata trial court and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, dissatisfied with the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) findings, particularly regarding Roy’s identification as the sole perpetrator, the victim’s parents challenged the investigation in the Calcutta High Court.
The victim’s parents have requested an expedited hearing in the case, expressing discontent with the CBI’s conclusions. Meanwhile, the CBI is actively investigating the possibility of a broader conspiracy behind the rape-murder incident and has submitted progress reports to the trial court in this regard.
