After state govt, CBI moves Calcutta High Court seeking death penalty for R G Kar convict

Last Monday, Sanjay Roy, the lone convict in the case, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sealdah court.

The state government on Tuesday had moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the Sealdah court’s order in the case, seeking capital punishment for Roy.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier said, “If the case stayed with us, we would have ensured the death penalty long back… The case was taken away from us. We had said that if we cannot do it, then hand it over to the CBI. Because we want justice.”

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday questioned whether the state government had the right to challenge the judgment of a lower court in the case.

The division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak, while hearing the arguments of the CBI and the state, also observed that the court would like to hear the victim’s family and the convict’s side along with the CBI, before deciding on the admission of an appeal whether to allow the state to plead for death penalty.