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 convicting Sanjay Roy, Judge Anirban Das turned down a plea by prosecutors for the death penalty, saying he did not consider it a rare crime that might warrant capital punishment. He sentenced Roy on Monday to life in jail on counts of rape and murder.

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.

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.

An Indian court on Monday sentenced a police volunteer to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor last year – a crime that sparked nationwide protests. Sanjay Roy, 33, plans to appeal the judgment in a higher court.

A court in India's Kolkata has sentenced the man convicted of raping and murdering a junior doctor to life imprisonment. The Indian court's judgement came as a disappointment to the victim's parents.

An Indian police volunteer was convicted on Saturday of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at a hospital in the eastern city Kolkata, in the speedy trial of a crime that sparked national outrage over a lack of safety for women.

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