The bloody body of the doctor was found in a classroom at the Government College and Hospital in Kolkata last August.
A police volunteer was convicted of raping and murdering a trainee doctor at a hospital in India, which led to protests across the country last year.
A civil and criminal court in Sealdah found 33-year-old Sanjay Roy guilty of rape and the murder of an intern, whose bloodied body was found in a classroom at Kolkata’s RG Kar Government Medical College and Hospital last August, a case that exposed the country’s struggle with sexual violence against women.
Judge Anirban Das, who presided over the fast-track trial, said the accused, who has protested his innocence in court and insists he was framed, could face life in prison or the death penalty when he is sentenced on Monday.
“Your guilt has been proven. You are being convicted,” the judge announced, saying the charges were proven by circumstantial evidence.
Roy’s lawyers, who have not yet commented on the verdict, claim that there were glaring discrepancies in the investigation reports and forensics in the trial, which began on November 11, in which 51 witnesses were examined.
The parents of the 31-year-old victim, who cannot be named under Indian law, expressed dissatisfaction with the investigation, saying the crime could not have been committed by just one person.
“Our daughter could not have met such a terrible end at the hands of one man,” her father said. “We will remain in pain and agony until all the guilty are punished. My daughter’s soul will not rest in peace until she gets justice.”
Seeking justice
More than 200 armed policemen were deployed in anticipation of the verdict.
As Roy was brought to court in a police car, protesters chanted: “Hang him, hang him.”
Several doctors chanted slogans in solidarity with the victim.
dr. Aniket Mahato, a spokeswoman for the young doctors, said street protests would continue “until justice is served.”
The gruesome nature of the attack led to weeks of protests across the country, drawing comparisons to the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in the capital, New Delhi. This has led to requests from doctors in government hospitals for additional security.
India’s Supreme Court set up a national task force after the protests to suggest ways to increase security measures at government hospitals.
The Indian federal police, which investigated the case, did too packed the officer who was in charge of the local police station at the time of the crime and the then head of the hospital with the destruction of the crime scene and tampering with the evidence.
The police officer has been released on bail, and the former head of the hospital remains in custody in connection with another case of financial irregularities at the hospital.
