Kolkata, Jan 21: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that society cannot have a “humanitarian” approach towards an “inhuman” individual.

She said this while expressing her opinion on the verdict by a special court in Kolkata on the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The special court on Monday sentenced Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the case, to life imprisonment.

“What is the meaning of ‘life imprisonment’? Often lifers get released on parole. If a convict is alive there is a chance that he might commit the same crime again. If anyone chooses to be ‘inhuman’, how can society be ‘humanitarian’ towards him? That is why we demanded a ‘death sentence’ for the convict in the R.G. Kar tragedy. It is really the rarest of rare crimes,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a state government programme in Malda district.

Her observations came just a couple of hours after the state government approached a division bench of the Calcutta High Court challenging the January 20 verdict of the special court and seeking the death penalty for the convict in the case.

Commenting on the murder of Dulal Sarkar a.k.a. Babla, the Trinamool Congress councillor from ward number 22 of English Bazar Municipality in the same district earlier this month, the Chief Minister gave a strong note of caution that the miscreants and mafias, even if associated with her party, will not be spared at any cost.

The murder is reportedly a fallout of infighting in the ruling party, sources had said.

Referring to the recent tension in neighbouring Bangladesh, having a stretch of international borders with Malda district, the Chief Minister emphasized that in case there are border skirmishes with the Border Security Force (BSF), the people residing in the bordering villages should refrain from going there during the period of tension.

“At the same time, the local people will have to be careful so that no terrorist can take shelter in the district either at any hotel or rent any room at a house in the bordering villages,” the Chief Minister said.

Kolkata, Jan 21: The West Bengal government on Tuesday approached the Calcutta High Court, challenging the special court’s verdict sentencing Sanjay Roy, convicted in the rape and murder of a junior doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, to life imprisonment.

State Advocate General Kishor Datta has approached the division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi seeking a “death penalty” for the convict.

The division bench has admitted the petition from the state government.

After the court pronounced the quantum of sentence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Monday evening that the state government would approach the Calcutta High Court challenging the verdict.

She also said the state government will be seeking the “death penalty” for the convict.

“I strongly feel that it is a heinous crime that warrants capital punishment. We will plead for capital punishment of the convict at the High Court now,” the Chief Minister said in a statement.

According to her, she was deeply shocked at the judgment of the special court which did not consider the crime as the “rarest of rare”.

“I am convinced that it is indeed a rarest of rare cases which demands capital punishment. We want to insist upon the death penalty in this most sinister and sensitive case,” the Chief Minister said in a statement.

“Recently, in the last 3/4 months, we have been able to ensure capital/ maximum punishment for convicts in such crimes. Then, why, in this case, has capital punishment not been awarded?” the Chief Minister’s statement added.

“We demanded the ‘death penalty’ for the convict. I don’t know how….Had the case been in our hands (read state police or Kolkata Police), the death sentence would have been pronounced much earlier,” the Chief Minister said.

While pronouncing the quantum of sentence, special court judge Anirban Das said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s contention that Roy’s offence in the matter was “the rarest and rare crimes” was not tenable.

Kolkata, Jan 21: While the West Bengal government is sticking to its stand that the doctor’s negligence was the reason behind the death of one woman and a newborn baby at a state-run hospital in West Midnapore district earlier this month, an expert committee of the state health department has not ruled out the possibility of adverse impact of injection of essential liquids like Ringers’ Lactate and oxytocin triggering the mishaps.

Currently, two parallel probes into the matter are going on, one by an expert committee of the state health department and the other by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police.

Sources aware of the development said the expert’s committee in its report has not ruled out the adverse impact of the administration of Ringers’ Lactate and oxytocin behind such mishaps. The committee had also said that the batch of Ringers’ Lactate and oxytocin have been forwarded for more sophisticated clinical examination.

The committee, sources added, has also advised that till the report on this count arrives it is advisable to avoid the use of such clinical liquids of the same batch.

Earlier this month, five women had fallen sick at the said state-run hospital in West Midnapore allegedly after being administered with expired Ringers’ Lactate.

One of the five women, Mamoni Ruidas died first and thereafter the newborn of another affected woman, Rekha Shaw, also died. Thereafter the entire state was on the boil following allegations of administration of expired Ringers’ Lactate supplied by an entity, Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Private Limited, which was first blacklisted by the Karnataka government and subsequently by the West Bengal government.

However, recently Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced at a press conference that doctor’s negligence was the main reason behind the mishap and she also announced the suspension of 12 doctors, six seniors and six juniors, including the medical superintendent- cum- vice principal (MSVP) and the resident medical officer (RMO) of the hospital.

The junior doctors of the hospital are on partial cease-work there which has not affected the medical services since normal functioning is on both at the emergency department as well as the out-patient department (OPD).