In India, police volunteer convicted of rape and murder of doctor, sparking widespread protests

A volunteer police officer was found guilty of rape and murder of a trainee doctor in India, a crime which sparked nationwide protests and hospital strikes last year.

Justice Anirban Das said the sentence for Sanjay Roy, 33, would be announced on Monday and could range from life imprisonment to the death penalty.

Protests erupted in West Bengal last August demanding justice after the body of a 31-year-old trainee doctor was found with multiple injuries in a conference room at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Authorities at the time said the woman had gone to the conference room to rest during her night shift when she was attacked.

An autopsy later revealed that the victim had been raped and assaulted before dying. This also suggests that she resisted and may have been tortured before being murdered.

Roy was arrested a day after the crime but was not officially charged until almost two months later. Since then, he has always maintained his innocence and told the court that he was not guilty.

The trial in the case was expedited thanks to India’s notoriously slow justice system, and proceedings began in November. He also once again highlighted the chronic problem of violence against women in the country.

After the incident, doctors and medical students across India held protests and rallies demanding justice and better security for them. Thousands of women across the country also took to the streets, demanding justice for the victim, as they took part in the ‘Reclaim The Night’ marches. Some demonstrators demanded that the perpetrator of this crime be sentenced to death.

The incident highlighted the rise in sexual violence against women in India and prompted India’s Supreme Court to establish a national task force to suggest ways to strengthen security measures at public hospitals.

Many cases of crimes against women go unreported in India due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence, as well as a lack of trust in the police. Women’s rights activists say the problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where the community sometimes shames victims of sexual assault and families worry about their social status.

However, the number of registered rape cases in the country has increased. In 2022, police recorded 31,516 reports of rape, an increase of 20% from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

In 2012, the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus galvanized massive protests across India. This prompted lawmakers to order harsher penalties for such crimes, as well as create dedicated fast-track courts for rape cases. The government also introduced the death penalty for repeat offenders.

The 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.