The mother of Sanjoy Roy, who was convicted of the rape and murder of the medic of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, on Sunday said if her son is guilty he should get the punishment he deserves, even if it means hanging. She said she would "cry alone" and accept his punishment as destiny.
Initially reticent to speak to the media after the Sealdah court convicted Sanjay on January 18, Malati Roy told reporters on Sunday morning that being a woman and a mother of three daughters "I can feel the anguish and pain of the mother of the woman medic who is like my daughter".
"If the court decides to hang him, I don't have an objection as his crime has been proved in the eye of the law. I will cry alone but accept it as a quirk of fate, something willed by destiny," the 70-year-old-woman said standing on the doorstep of her shanty on Shambhunath Pandit Street, about 5 km from the commotion and buzz at the Sealdah court the other day.
Asked if she had turned up during the court hearings or met Roy at the lockup, she replied, "No. Why should I? Despite my failing health I would have tried to visit him if the charges were found to be untrue." Sanjay has three sisters and one of them died years back.
One of the elder sisters, who lives close to Malati's home, on Saturday said in case he is proven guilty, the law should take its own course punishing him and the family has no plan to challenge the order.
The middle-aged woman, her face partially covered in dupatta, told reporters at a shanty in Bhawanipore area that she had not visited the Sealdah court room where her brother was produced and the court pronounced him guilty. "Please leave me alone. We are shattered," she said when reporters continued to ask if she thought her brother was guilty.
"But if he has committed a crime, he should get punishment. We don't have any plan to challenge the order. I don't have any contact with my family since my marriage in 2007. My mother is not well," she said.
The woman, who did not wish to divulge her identity, said her brother used to be like any normal boy during childhood. "As he grew up, he turned to booze, but apart from that I did not hear of any case about Sanjay misbehaving with a woman. Of course, as we did not have regular contact with him in the past few years and he used to live in a separate locality I don't have a fair idea about his associations and whether he was involved in any criminal offence," she said.
The woman, however, added, "There are reports in media that Sanjay was not alone at the site of the crime. So I would expect that investigation must have been thorough to find only one person's involvement in such a crime. If others were involved directly or indirectly they should also be investigated and brought to book."
"Since Sanjay's arrest, we were under the stigma and everyone from neighbours to relatives would point fingers at us saying we are Sanjay's kin. I hope we are clearing the air now," she said.
