Bill seeking death penalty for rape convicts passed in Bengal Assembly

Kolkata: The 'Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill', which seeks the death penalty for convicts in rape and murder cases or in cases of rape where the victim is left in a vegetative state, was passed through a voice vote in the state Assembly on Tuesday.

The BJP’s legislative team in the Assembly, as promised, did not seek any division in the vote for passing the bill.

Describing the bill, which seeks amendments in the relevant provision under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while participating in the debate on the bill, claimed that it "was a matter of shame that the Prime Minister could not do what her government did".

Thereafter, she said that since the Prime Minister could not take any initiative in protecting the women, he should resign and the Union Home Minister should also resign.

The Mamata government proposed the bill amid the nationwide protests against the rape and murder of a woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that she wanted justice for the victim junior doctor from the CBI, which is currently conducting the probe in the rape and murder case.

She said that the Governor should promptly clear the bill from his end so that it could be sent to the office of the President for final clearance there. “Thereafter enforcing and making that effective will be our responsibility. So I am requesting the leader of the opposition in the House to tell the Governor to clear the Bill at the earliest,” the Chief Minister said.

The said bill will need Presidential assent as it proposes to amend certain provisions in the Central laws on this count.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also criticised the BJP legislators for being silent about similar rape and murder cases in the BJP-ruled states, “When you speak of an event in West Bengal, will you not speak about what happened at Unnao? It is a matter of shame that the accused legislator in the matter was garlanded,” the Chief Minister said.