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 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.

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) -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.