A police volunteer has been found guilty of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at a hospital in Kolkata, India, last year.
Sanjay Roy, 33, denies the charges and claims he has been framed. He will be sentenced on Monday, and it ranges from life in prison to the death penalty.
Judge Anirban Das said in court that circumstantial evidence proved the charges and added: “Your guilt is proved. You are being convicted.”
The 31-year-old junior doctor, who cannot be named under Indian law, was found dead in a classroom at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on 9 August last year.
According to staff at the hospital, she had gone for a nap after nearly 20 hours into a 36-hour shift when she was attacked.
Officers discovered the bloodied body of the woman, and an autopsy later found the victim had been strangled and sexual assaulted.
The woman’s family have claimed the incident could not have been carried out by one person.
Her father said after the guilty verdict on Friday: “Our daughter could not have met such a horrific end by a single man.
“We will remain in pain and agony until all the culprits are punished.”
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Court sources told Reuters the investigation cited 128 witnesses, with 51 examined during the trial that started on 11 November and was fast-tracked to conclude swiftly.
Protests broke out across India over the incident, with hospital services disrupted in several cities as thousands of doctors went on strike to demand better security and justice for the victim.
Dr Smita Malhotra, a paediatrician who attended a protest in Delhi in August, told Sky’s India reporter Neville Lazarus then that the incident was “reflective of the rot in our society”.
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Tough laws against rape and sexual assault were introduced following the high-profile case of a gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus in 2012.
These included fast-track courts for swifter convictions in such cases and strict punishments, but protesters said after the latest incident that the situation for women has not improved.
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Police also charged the officer heading the local police station at the time and the then head of R G Kar Hospital with destruction of the crime scene and tampering with evidence.
The police officer is currently out on bail. The former head of the hospital is in custody over a separate case regarding financial irregularities at the hospital.
