2024-09-04 09:51:09
Kolkata: The case of rape and murder of a lady doctor in a government hospital in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, is on the rise. Doctors, people associated with social organizations and political parties are continuously protesting. Due to this, Mamata Banerjee’s government is on the backfoot. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee’s government passed a bill in the West Bengal Assembly providing death penalty in cases of rape and murder. BJP also supported the ‘Aparajita Mahila and Bal (West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment) Bill’. The bill will need the President’s approval, as it proposes to amend some provisions in central laws. In such a situation, Mamata Banerjee targeted the Center. Responding to the discussion on the bill, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that it is a matter of shame that the Prime Minister could not do the work that her government did. She said that the Prime Minister could not take any initiative in the safety of women, so he and the Union Home Minister should resign.Mamata surrounded the center on the pretext of the bill
The chief minister said that we wanted the Centre to amend the existing laws and include stringent sections to ensure severe punishment to the culprits and speedy justice to the victims. The Centre did not show any positive attitude for this. So we took the first step. Once it is implemented, this bill can serve as a model for the rest of the country. Banerjee also presented two letters written recently to Prime Minister Modi in this regard, one of which was a response to the reply given by Union Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi to her first letter.
Demanded resignation of Prime Minister, Home Minister
The TMC supremo said that I demand the resignation of Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Ministers of all those states who have failed to implement effective laws ensuring the safety of women and children across the country. She said that rape is a curse against humanity and social reforms are needed to stop such crimes. The Chief Minister said that after the passage of this bill, we will set up a special Aparajita Task Force in the police to ensure that the investigation in rape cases is completed in a timely manner.
Mamata called the bill historic
Mamata termed this bill as historic and a model for other states and said that through this proposed bill, her government has tried to remove the shortcomings in the central law to provide quick and effective justice to the victim and her family. On the slogans raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, Mamata said that what if I raise slogans against the Prime Minister and the Home Minister for the same reasons for which you are raising slogans against me. She claimed that the rate of crime against women is abnormally high in states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, whereas in West Bengal, harassed women are getting justice in the court.
88 fast track courts in Bengal
Responding to a question from Suvendu Adhikari, Mamata said that there are 88 fast track courts in West Bengal. The state ranks third in the country in terms of the number of these courts. Apart from this, there are more than 50 special courts for crimes against women. These courts have disposed of 3,11,479 out of 3,92,620 cases registered so far. About 7,000 cases related to women are still pending before the courts.
We want justice from CBI and death penalty for the culprit
Mamata alleged that West Bengal was not consulted before passing the Indian Justice Code (BNS). She said that we wanted to discuss it after the formation of a new government at the Centre. The Chief Minister said that the opposition should ask the Governor to sign this bill without any delay. She said that its effective implementation would be the responsibility of the state government. Mamata expressed grief over the rape and murder of the lady doctor of RG Kar Hospital and said that we want justice from the CBI and want death penalty for the culprit.
Opposition members called the bill an eyewashReferring to the famous Kamduni gang rape and murder case of 2013 in Bengal, Mamata claimed that the state government had put in all its efforts to get the culprits hanged, but it was not successful because the High Court had a different opinion. On the other hand, opposition members called this bill an eyewash. However, despite this, the bill was passed unanimously. At the same time, most of the amendments introduced by Suvendu Adhikari were rejected by the House. (Input Bhasha)