An Indian court awarded a life sentence on Monday to a police volunteer convicted of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the hospital where she worked in the eastern city of Kolkata, rejecting demands for the death penalty and saying it was not a rare crime.

In a landmark ruling, the Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court, led by Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das, has sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment for the brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Sanjay Roy, a police volunteer, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor attacked while on duty in Kolkata — a crime that sparked widespread protests across India.

Judge says case did not deserve the death penalty as it was not “the rarest of the rare cases"; victim's family says will continue to fight for justice.

An Indian court has sentenced a police volunteer to life in prison after finding him guilty in the rape and killing of a trainee doctor last year

A court in India has convicted a man of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor - a crime that sparked nationwide outrage. Sanjay Roy, a hospital volunteer worker, was found guilty over the attack, which happened in August last year at a hospital in Kolkata city in West Bengal state.

A court found a police volunteer guilty of the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor, a crime that sparked protests and hospital strikes amid concerns over lack of safety for women.

Protests erupted in West Bengal last August after the body of a trainee doctor was found with multiple injuries in a hospital lecture hall.