The West Bengal Assembly unanimously passed the newly drafted anti-rape Bill today. However, BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari proposed amendments to the Bill which were not accepted by the House.
The two-day special session of the Assembly has been called by the TMC government in the wake of the rape-murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month.
The legislation aims to enhance protection for women and children by amending and introducing new provisions related to rape and sexual offences. The bill was tabled by Law Minister Moloy Ghatak on the second day of the special Assembly session.
Mamata Banerjee urged Governor Ananda Bose to sign the Aparajita Women and Child Bill immediately and make it a law. Referring to Kolkata rape and murder case, the CM urged ‘capital punishment’ for all rapists.
After it was tabled this morning, Chief Minister Mamata hailed it as “a model and historic”. She also said that a special unit of the state police — ‘Aparajita Task Force’– will be set up once the Bill becomes a law.
The ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024’ proposes capital punishment to rape convicts if their actions result in victims’ death or send them into a vegetative state.
“…I had written two letters to the Prime Minister, but I did not get any reply from him, rather I got a reply from the Minister of Women and Child Development, but I also replied to his reply and informed the Prime Minister. When the Code of Justice Bill was passed in a hurry before the elections, I had said that it should not be passed in a hurry, the states were not consulted in this” Mamat Banarjee said.
Meanwhile, the BJP has expressed support for the West Bengal government’s ‘Aparajita Women and Child Bill,’ said Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari. He stated that the BJP wants the bill to be effectively implemented. The BJP leader also criticised the West Bengal government, stating that it is attempting to divert attention from serious issues.
