The 'Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill', providing for death penalty for convicts in cases of rape and murder 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.
BJP's legislative team in the Assembly, as promised, did not seek any division in the vote for passing the bill.
While explaining the bill that 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 said during her participation in the debate on the bill that it was shameful on the part of the Prime Minister because he could not do what her government had done.
Thereafter, she said since the Prime Minister himself 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 amidst the nationwide protests against the rape and murder of a woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
The Chief Minister, speaking on the occasion, said that she was seeking justice for the victim junior doctor from the CBI conducting the probe in the rape and murder case.
She said 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 require Presidential assent as it seeks to amend certain provisions in the Central laws on this count.
The Chief Minister also attacked the BJP legislators, on the occasion, for keeping silent about the similar cases of rape and murder 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.
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