Sanjay Roy gets Life Imprisonment in RG Kar rape-murder case

📢 Sessions Court awards life imprisonment to convict Sanjay Roy:

• Roy was held guilty under Sections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death), and 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
• The court also slapped a fine of ₹50,000 on Roy.
• Sanjay Roy: "I told you before that I always wear a Rudraksha chain. If I had committed the crime, it would have broken at the crime scene. I was not allowed to speak. They forced me to sign many papers. I was not given a chance to speak. You have seen all of this, sir. I told you before as well," Roy told the court. 
• The Court also ordered the West Bengal government to grant ₹17 lakh as compensation to the family of the deceased victim.
• CBI had demanded capital punishment for the convict in the case.
• Additional district and sessions judge Anirban Das refused to impose death penalty, stating that the crime could not be classified as "rarest of rare", the test to impose capital punishment.

Victim's parents:

The parents of the deceased said they were not satisfied with the verdict.

"We are shocked. How can this not be the rarest of the rare cases? An on-duty doctor was raped and murdered while being on duty. We are dismayed. There was a larger conspiracy behind this crime," the mother said.

Important Points:

• The Doctrine of Rarest of Rare was established in the case of Bacchan v. State of Punjab, (1980) 2 SCC 684.
• Later, in the case of Macchi Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1983 SC 1957 the court tried to lay down criteria for assessing whether a crime fell into the category of Rarest of rare.

What is a Rarest of Rare case?
In the Macchi Singh case, the court laid down certain criteria for assessing when a case could fall under the ambit of rarest of rare. The criteria are analysed as below:
1. Manner of commission of murder: When the murder is committed in an extremely brutal, ridiculous, diabolical, revolting, or reprehensible manner so as to awaken intense and extreme indignation of the community; for instance,

• When the victim house is set on fire with the intention to bake him alive.
• When the victim is tortured to inhuman acts in order to bring about his/her death.
• When the body of the victim is mutilated or cut in pieces in a brutal manner.

2. Motive for the commission of murder: When total depravity and cruelty are the motives behind a murder; for instance,

• A hired killer committing murder merely for the sake of a monetary reward.
• A cold-blooded murder incorporating a thoughtful design in order to get control to inherit property or for any other selfish gains.

3. Socially abhorrent nature of the crime: When a murder of a person belonging to one of the backward classes is committed. Cases of bride burning, famously known as dowry deaths, are also covered in this.

4. Magnitude of the crime: When the proportion of the crime is massive, for instance, in cases of multiple murders.

5. Personality of victim of murder: When the murder victim is an innocent child, a helpless woman or person (due to old age or infirmity), a public figure, etc.

Constitutionality of Capital Punishment:

• In the case of Jagmohan Singh v. State of U.P, AIR 1973 SC 947 the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment giving reasons that it is not merely a deterrent but a token of disapproval of crime on part of the society.
• The constitutionality was again upheld in the case of Bacchan Singh Case.