The state anti-rape bill cleared the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday (September 3) after the opposition party extended full support to the chief minister’s initiative.
However, this did not come with its own set of controversies because soon after their opposition amendments were rebutted, the BJP raised a furor.
The proposed amendments in the said bill were introduced by the Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, who criticized the TMC-led government for bringing an ‘eyewash’ legislation at a time when a heinous crime of rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata has led to unrest in the state.
Brought to the floor as the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024’ It advocates for capital punishment for any person who is convicted of raping a woman, and the prosecutor can prove that due to the act done, the woman either died or remains in a comatose state.
Also, it prescribes a life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for anyone convicted of rape.
The legislation also seeks to enhance the protection of women and children by amending as well as enacting provisions into law regarding rape and other sexually related offenses.
A two-day special session of the assembly was called on Monday following the death of a woman doctor, which incensed the whole nation.
‘Historic, I’m emotionally moved’: I want to introduce an anti-rape bill in this country. They attacked you. Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she was’moved emotionally’ when the TMC government placed the new proposed anti-rape legislation containing stringent provisions for the offenders before the state legislative assembly.
