New DelhI [India], January 20 : The Indian Medical Association (IMA) lamented that everyone was expecting capital punishment days after a court found RG Kar convict guilty of rape and murder of a female trainee doctor in West Bengal's Kolata.
Finance Secretary of IMA, Piyush Jain told ANI, "...Today, the judgement has come. When the guilt was proven, everyone was expecting capital punishment and that would have given a strong message to the general public and to the doctor fraternity that the judicial procedure and the government were standing with them."
He brought to attention the last words of the accused in the court. "I am not the only accused involved in the case. I am innocent. There are more people along with me. It raises a very big question. Whether there is a need to conduct further investigation into the case?"
"Has the investigation been wrapped up? Whether those named by the culprit would be probed?..These people should be brought within the ambit of law," he asked.
Earlier in the day, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) expressed disappointment after the verdict.
"A terrible judgement. We as a nation should be ashamed," it said in strong disapproval of the verdict.
Taking to X, FORDA said, "You can get away with a brutal #Rape&Murder with just #Lifeimprisonment in India. What a shame!"
"Highly disappointed. This is not over, yet," the post added.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the court giving life imprisonment to the convict in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case and said if the case had been with Kolkata Police, they would have ensured a death penalty.
"I learned about the sentencing from the media. We have always demanded capital punishment and we continue to stand by it. However, this is the court's decision and I can't say much about this. For three other cases, Kolkata police ensured capital punishment through thorough investigations concluded within 54-60 days. This was a serious case. Had it been under our purview, we would have ensured the death penalty long back," CM Mamata said while addressing the media at Malda.
The case involves the rape and murder of a trainee doctor whose body was found on August 9 in the hospital's seminar room.