New Delhi — More than three months after the rape and murder of a 31-year-old female doctor in India sparked widespread protests across the country, the trial of the only person accused of the brutal murder began Monday in a special court in the eastern state of West Bengal. The only suspect in the case is Sanjoy Roy, a volunteer member of the Kolkata police force who was an official accused of rape and murder last week.

If convicted, Roy could face life in prison or the death penalty.

He claimed he had been framed, shouting from inside a police van as he was taken from court to prison last week that he was completely innocent, according to Indian media. rEPORTS.

“I have been silent until now. But I did not commit the rape and the murder. I am intimidated by the government and my own department. They asked me not to say a word. But I am not guilty, I am registered to protect the real culprits,” he he said.

India was hit by widespread and mass protests doctors’ strikes in August, with doctors walking off the job to demand justice for the young doctor who was found murdered in a lecture hall in Kolkata’s State RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

At the time, authorities said the woman had gone to the classroom to rest during a night shift when she was attacked. An autopsy confirmed she was sexually assaulted before she was killed. It also suggested that she resisted her attacker and was tortured before being killed.

Doctors across the country have called for safer workplaces, while citizens have called for safety for women in a country where an average of 90 rapes per day were reported in 2022, according to the latest government figures.

Some 128 witnesses are expected to take the stand during the trial, with hearings taking place daily as authorities aim to fast-track the high-profile case. The proceedings will not be open to the public.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also arrested a police officer and the hospital’s supervisor for alleged evidence tampering and financial irregularities.

The doctor’s killing resurfaced anger in the country over women’s safety, which has since backfired 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi as it was driven around the metropolis.

This brutal attack prompted India’s parliament to pass tougher laws on sexual violence, but there is no evidence that tougher laws have reduced the number of sexual assaults in the country.

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