W Bengal passes Bill seeking death penalty for rape convicts

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.