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.

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.

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 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 rape-cum-murder case of an on-duty doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, officials said Wednesday.

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