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.

Sentencing Roy to life in prison, a Kolkata court said Monday that the case didn’t meet the criteria to be classified as ‘rarest of rare’, and therefore, did not merit death penalty.

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.

In a landmark ruling, the Sealdah Civil and Criminal Court, led by Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das, has sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment for the brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.