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.

The CBI is likely to file the appeal against the Sealdah court order by Friday with detailed arguments in favour of capital punishment, they said.

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.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will file an appeal before the Calcutta High Court (HC), seeking death sentence for Sanjoy Roy, who was sentenced to "life imprisonment until death" by a Sealdah court in the Kolkata rape-murder case,

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.

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

A Kolkata court on Monday criticised the authorities at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and the police for attempting to cover up the murder of a junior doctor as a suicide, Live Law reported.

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.

The CBI will file an appeal before the Calcutta High Court, seeking death sentence for Sanjay Roy, who was sentenced to "life imprisonment until death" by a Sealdah court in

The Sealdah court rejected CBI's plea seeking death penalty for Roy, saying the crime did not fall under the "rarest of the rare" category.