RG Kar rape & murder: Verdict in few hours amid apprehensions, hope

Kolkata, Jan 18 (IANS) Amid apprehensions and hope, a special court in Kolkata will be delivering the verdict within a few hours in the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises in August last year.

On one hand, the parents of the victim are apprehending that their quest for justice for their daughter will be limited to conviction and sentencing of the “sole prime accused” in the case Sanjay Ray, an erstwhile civic volunteer attached to Kolkata Police, thus allowing the conspirators involved in “tampering” and “altering” of the evidence in the matter, to remain behind the curtains forever.

On the other hand, the hope of many representatives of civil society is that while pronouncing the sentence for the sole prime accused, at least the special court should make some observations on the “evidence tampering and altering” aspect, that might open up a new line of investigation on these lines.

Already the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which just filed one charge sheet in the matter identifying Sanjay Ray as the sole prime accused in the crime of rape and murder, is in the line of fire of the victim’s parents and a section of the civil society, who suspect the role of some “invisible hand” in pulling the strings of the CBI in the case.

On this issue, the CBI is portrayed as a villain because of its failure in filing a supplementary charge sheet against the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar, Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal, both accused of tampering and altering the evidence, within 90 days of their arrest, following which both were granted “default bail” by the same special court.

Now all eyes will be on the proceedings of the special court in the second half on Saturday, when the verdict will be pronounced leaving the field open for further debates on whether “justice is granted” or “justice is denied” for ‘Abhaya (the fearless)’ the woman doctor who has been named such by the public.