In Delhi University, Propaganda Replaces Pedagogy; Convicted Rapist in Kolkata Hospital Case Sentenced to Life; IIT Madras Director Praises the Virtues of Cow Urine

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Over to Sidharth Bhatia for today’s Cable

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Founded by Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Tanweer Alam, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Snapshot of the day

January 20, 2025

Sidharth Bhatia

Civic police volunteer Sanjay Roy was sentenced to life in prison today after being convicted for raping and murdering a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August last year. Judge Anirban Das said he did not give Roy the death penalty – which the prosecuting CBI had argued for – as the case did not meet the ‘rarest of rare’ standard that merits capital punishment. He also ordered the state to compensate the victim’s family with Rs 17 lakh. Mamata Banerjee said as per PTI that if the case had stayed with the West Bengal government, it would have “ensured that he [Roy] was served a death sentence”. Roy – convicted on Saturday – again claimed that he had been framed.

Some doctors who protested the trainee doctor’s killing expressed disappointment that Roy was not sentenced to death; Dr Aniket Mahato said their protests would continue until everyone involved was served justice, Nancy Jaiswal reports. Mahato was quoted as saying:

“The protest will go on even in future because our demands are clear: who are the others involved in this case? Why is the supplementary chargesheet not being filed? Why are criminal proceedings not being taken up against Sandip Ghosh?”

Eighteen tents at the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj went up in flames yesterday afternoon because of two gas cylinder explosions. According to PTI, the cops said that the explosion occurred after some straw inside a tent caught fire. No casualties were reported.

Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta of the Supreme Court issued an interim order staying the trial court proceedings against Rahul Gandhi