The suspect on trial for raping and murdering a 31-year-old doctor has pleaded not guilty, his lawyer said Saturday, a crime that appalled the nation and triggered wide-scale protests.The discovery of the doctor’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 sparked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.Sanjoy Roy, 33, the lone accused in the case, pleaded not guilty before the judge in a closed court on Friday in Kolkata, his lawyer Sourav Bandyopadhyay told AFP.”I am not guilty, your honour, I have been framed,” Roy told the court, Bandyopadhyay said, repeating his client’s words.Roy, a civic volunteer in the hospital, was arrested the day after the murder and has been held in custody since.He would potentially face the death penalty if convicted.The court began hearings on November 11, listening to evidence from some 50 witnesses, but it was on Friday that Roy took the stand.”Judge Anirban Das questioned him with more than 100 questions during the six-hour-long in camera deposition, that continued until late in the evening”, Bandyopadhyay said.
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