Life Sentence for Kolkata Hospital Rape and Murder

An Indian court on Monday sentenced to life in prison the man convicted of raping and murdering a trainee doctor in Kolkata, sparing him the death penalty in a case that was a chilling example of how the country remains unsafe for women.The killing in August led to months of protests and political turmoil in the state of West Bengal, of which Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, is the capital.India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, its equivalent of the F.B.I., had asked the court to hand down a death penalty for Sanjay Roy, the perpetrator.So had the victim’s family, and the powerful chief minister of the state, Mamata Banerjee.But the court ruled that Mr.

Roy’s crimes did not meet the “rarest of the rare” standard used to justify executing those convicted of capital offenses.Rekha Sharma, a former chief of the National Commission for Women and a member of Parliament, told an Indian news agency that “the victim’s family and all of us are really sad” that Mr.Roy avoided the death penalty.

A member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, she blamed the sentence on shortcomings of the Kolkata Police, who answer to Ms.Banerjee.Before the sentencing, Mr.

Roy, who had served as a volunteer with the Kolkata Police, said he was not guilty.“I haven’t done this.

I have been framed,” he told the court on Monday.Months ago, he had said that the written confessions he gave to police were obtained by force.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....