An Indian police volunteer sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a young doctor in Calcutta

A court in India has sentenced a police volunteer to life in prison for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor who was attacked while on duty in Kolkata last August – a crime that sparked widespread protests across the country.

The trial, which began in November and was held behind closed doors, was rushed by an outcry, with many people taking to the streets to express their anger at chronic violence against women in India, as well as the lack of security measures to protect female doctors.

During a sentencing hearing Monday in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, Judge Anirban Das said that while it was a heinous crime, it was not the “rarest of the rare” cases that shocked society at large. Therefore, the death penalty was not appropriate for Sanjay Roy.

“You will be in jail till the last day of your life,” Das said as he sentenced Roy on both counts of rape and murder.

Before the sentence was handed down, Roy pleaded in court to avoid the death penalty, repeating that he is innocent and believes he was framed.

‘Justice is still waiting’

Roy, 33, was working informally as a police volunteer at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a government teaching hospital where the victim’s body was found in a seminar hall on August 9. The 31-year-old doctor, who has not been named for legal reasons, reportedly went to the gym to rest after a 36-hour shift.

Her body was half-naked and severely injured, and the autopsy revealed that she had been sexually abused and strangled.

Roy was arrested a day after the victim was found and formally charged last October, and federal investigators later revealed he was arrested after he was caught on CCTV entering the seminar hall.

After the guilty verdict was upheld Saturday, but with sentencing, the victim’s mother told reporters she believed Roy did not act alone, but that “the others have not been arrested yet. So justice has not been served.”

On Monday, the doctor’s parents broke down in tears in the courtroom, saying they were devastated that their hope for the death penalty had been dashed.

“We are shocked by the verdict,” her father told Agence France-Presse. “We will continue our fight… come what may, we will fight for justice.”

Scores of protesters also gathered outside the court on Monday to express their displeasure with the sentence.

The victim’s parents had earlier alleged that the West Bengal Police had attempted it delay the investigation and change the evidence.

The court also awarded 1,700,000 rupiah (about Cdn 28,500) in compensation to the family, although the victim’s parents told the court they did not want any money. “I just want justice for our daughter – nothing else,” the father said.

The case was initially investigated by Calcutta police, but was later handed over to federal investigators after government officials were accused of misconduct.

“I am … horrified, stunned and very emotional,” said Dr. Sayantani Ghosh Hazra, a resident at KPC Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, reacting to the verdict on Monday.

“Justice is still being served,” she said, referring to her belief that multiple people were involved in the crime.

Hazra was heavily involved in the demonstrations that followed the rape and murder, even fasting in protest for 17 days.

“Everyone is hungry for justice,” she said, until there is a full account of what happened that night.

The concern for security does not disappear

Months after the attack, Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital is still plastered with posters and graffiti condemning the rape and what many see as the authorities’ reluctance to fully investigate the crime.

“We feel like we’ve lost a sister,” said Dr. Asfakulla Naiya, a resident at the same hospital as the victim, told CBC News in an interview before the sentence was handed down. He expressed shock that the attack took place in a seminar hall where doctors are taught to “save, not take lives”.

Naiya wanted Roy’s sentence to serve as an example and “instill fear” in would-be rapists to think “a thousand times” before attacking a woman.

The brutal rape and murder sparked protests across the country and doctors’ strikes for weeks, with thousands of women calling for justice and opposing victim-blaming in one protest called Reclaim the Night.

Rimjhim Sinha, one of the organizers of that protest and subsequent rallies, said Monday’s ruling would have to be linked to real social change to make any difference.

“Even the death penalty does not really ensure the eradication of rape culture in our society, no matter how many cases there are where the perpetrators are awarded death by hanging,” said Sinha, an activist and researcher who focuses on women’s rights in India.

Women are not even considered human, she said. “They see us as property, or something that someone should just keep as a trophy.”

Sinha said not much has changed in India’s culture since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi shocked the country and sparked massive protests. That case resulted in tougher penalties for rape and fast-track courts to deal with assault charges.

Others, like 22-year-old medical student Debasmita Das, are skeptical that a life sentence will lead to more adequate safety measures for female health workers. India’s Supreme Court set up a national task force after the attack to focus on strengthening security in government hospitals.

“How can a murder happen inside a hospital [while the victim was] on duty?” Das told CBC News.

“I will do my internship in three years. How will I feel safe?”