Doctor murder case: 8 get life, seven-year jail for 4

HOWRAH: She hates their faces. But Kanika Pal, the widow of Dr Sushil Pal, did not blink once and looked straight into the eyes of the 12 persons convicted of the murder of her husband, when they were being sentenced on Tuesday. The Howrah district and sessions court sentenced eight to life imprisonment while the remaining four were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
"Justice delayed is not always justice denied. It has been a lonely battle for 10 long years. There were times when I lost patience. But I never lost faith in the system. These people not only caused an irreparable loss to my family by murdering my husband, but also snubbed the life out of a doctor who had lots to render to the society," said Kanika, fighting back tears.
Piyali Das, Biswajyoti Bose, Shubhonarayan Ghosh, Amit Banerjee, Prahalad Sarkar, Surendra Agarwal, Santosh Agawral and Mumtaz were sentenced to life while Rajib Nath, Chandan Dom, Jayanta Ghosh and Biswanath Kangshabanik were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. The 13th accused, Krshnendu Adhikari, committed suicide six years ago.
The packed courtroom waited with bated breath to hear the sentence. Das was the first to be summoned by district and sessions judge Tanmoy Gupta. Das, whose foetus Pal had refused to abort, broke down when Gupta said she had been convicted under Section 302 IPC and hence the punishment would be either death or life imprisonment.
"I am not involved in the crime and how can I be given such harsh punishment? I have a daughter who is only nine years old. She needs me," Das pleaded. She herself is a qualified physician.
With folded hands, the rest of the 11 convicts too kept pleading innocence, the loudest being Biswajyoti Bose. "The CID has goofed up, framing innocent people in the case. I have an 80-year-old ailing mother, I appeal to you to consider this while pronouncing the sentence," said the former local-level CPM leader, half protesting and half pleading.
Back in 2004, Bose was a zonal committee member and a strongman of the CPM in Bally. He is believed to have masterminded the murder and had a hold over Bally Sebayatan, the nursing home where Pal was murdered.
Special prosecutor Sandip Bhattacharya pleaded with the judge that the murder be considered as a rarest of rare crimes and the convicts be punished accordingly. "The doctor was murdered in a brutal way. There were 23 injury marks, including smashed private parts. Considering the magnitude of the crime, I appeal for death sentence," Bhattacharya pleaded.
As Gupta pronounced life sentence on eight convicts, some of their relatives broke down while some shook their heads in disbelief. Piyali's elderly mother wept silently while Mumtaz's young wife wailed that her children will be deprived of their father.
Kanika stood firm in the courtroom during the entire process. Though she managed to put up a brave front, she could not stop a few silent teardrops from rolling down her cheeks when the sentence was being pronounced.
"The conviction won't bring my husband back. But we will get some relief as justice has been delivered. I cannot thank the CID enough. Even as relatives and friends deserted us in the time of distress, CID stood by us all these years," said Kanika, a schoolteacher.
The murder came as such a blow to Kanika that she still has to take anti-depressants. "My elder daughter is following in her father's footsteps. She has enrolled herself in an MBBS course while my younger daughter, who is now in Class XII, is determined to become a lawyer. All the running around we had to do for 10 years has probably made her take the decision," Kanika said.
Dr Pal's partially decomposed body was fished out of a canal in Sankrail, Howrah, on July 3, 2004. The CID took up the case and arrested 13 people. As many as 80 witnesses were examined during the investigation which revealed that Dr Pal was murdered because of his refusal to carry out an abortion on Piyali Das because of her advanced stage of pregnancy on ethical grounds. Dr Pal apparently threatened to inform police. This prompted Biswajyoti to lead the attack on Pal, possibly in a fit of rage.