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An Indian court on Saturday found a police volunteer guilty of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor, a crime that sparked protests across the country and hospital strikes last year amid renewed concerns about a lack of safety for women.
The killing of a 31-year-old doctor while on duty at a hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata last August has once again highlighted the country’s chronic problem of violence against women. The trial in the case was fast-tracked through India’s notoriously slow legal system, with hearings beginning in November.
Judge Anirban Das said the sentence for Sanjay Roy, 33, would be announced on Monday and could range from life imprisonment to the death penalty.
On August 9, the police discovered the bloody body of a woman at the city’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Seminar Hall. An autopsy later found that the victim had been strangled and confirmed a sexual assault.
Roy was arrested the day after the crime. Since then, he has consistently maintained his innocence and told the court that he is not guilty.
The case was initially investigated by the Kolkata police, but later the court handed over the probe to federal investigators after state government officials were accused of mishandling the investigation.
After the murder, doctors and medical students across India held protests and rallies demanding justice and better security for them. Thousands of women across the country also protested in the streets, demanding justice for the victim as they took part in “Reclaim The Night” marches. Some protesters called for the death penalty for the perpetrators of the crime.
The rape and murder of a medical trainee has sparked mass protests in India, with medical experts demanding the government do more to keep workers safe.
The crime highlighted growing sexual violence against women in India and prompted India’s Supreme Court to set up a national task force to suggest ways to improve security measures in government hospitals.
Many cases of crimes against women go unreported in India due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence as well as a lack of faith in the police. Women’s rights activists say the problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where communities sometimes shame victims of sexual assault and families worry about their social status.
However, the number of recorded cases of rape in the country has increased. In 2022, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape – a 20 percent jump from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
In 2012, the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in New Delhi sparked mass protests across India. This inspired lawmakers to mandate harsher penalties for such crimes, as well as the creation of fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases. The government also introduced the death penalty for returnees.
A rape law amended in 2013 also criminalized stalking and voyeurism and lowered the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16.
