India's West Bengal state launched an appeal on Tuesday to overturn a life sentence in favour of the death penalty for a police volunteer convicted of the rape and murder of a junior doctor, a senior lawyer aware of the development said.

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.

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.

More individuals should have been questioned in the case while working conditions in India’s hospitals remain abysmal, analysts say.

The former civic police volunteer was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court in Kolkata on Monday.

A court in India has sentenced a man to life in prison for the rape and murder of a junior doctor, in a case that sparked nationwide outrage and protests. The judge rejected demands for the death penalty but said that Sanjoy Roy, a hospital volunteer who was convicted over the weekend, would spend the rest of his life in jail.

Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Tuesday moved to the Calcutta High Court demanding capital punishment for the accused Sanjay Roy in the RG Kar rape and murder case, against the Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court order giving life imprisonment.

Unhappy with the verdict, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said death penalty would have been ensured if the case been handled by the Kolkata Police

The police had sought the death penalty in a horrific but familiar crime. Its handling by the local authorities had outraged the nation.