The BJP, on Tuesday, questioned the motive of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee behind the passage of the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, with unanimous passage in the West Bengal Assembly.
Basically, the Aparajita Bill pressed to bring reforms and additional laws related to rape and sexual offences for giving further protection to women and children in view of the recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. The Bill would amend the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Its aim is to extend punishment and provide a framework for speedy investigation and trial of heinous crimes against women and children in West Bengal.
Reacting to the Bill, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya raised several questions about the intention of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Malviya took to X, saying, "Mamata Banerjee can't hide her criminal intent behind the new anti-rape Bill passed in the West Bengal Assembly. Other than being a desperate attempt to divert attention from the raging civil society protest against her post the rape and murder of the young lady doctor at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, a closer look at the fine prints of the Bill reveals that it seeks to place limits on reporting judicial proceedings in rape cases."
Malviya further criticized the Bill's provisions: "Why is Mamata Banerjee trying to gag the media? So much for free speech and press freedom! Besides, if Mamata Banerjee is indeed serious about tackling crimes against women, she should immediately apologize to the women of Sandeshkhali for defending Sheikh Shahjahan on the floor of the West Bengal Assembly, and make a public announcement that Shahjahan will be the first rapist to be hanged to death under the new anti-rape law."
The Bill provides for the death penalty for rapists if their crimes result in the death of the victim or if they cause severe brain damage. Malviya also attacked Banerjee for not setting up fast-track courts to try crimes against women and minor girls.
He continued his attack on Banerjee's 'Ratri Saathi' scheme, an initiative launched to improve safety but criticized for its apparent ploy to confine the freedom of women. The X post quoted Malviya as saying, "Mamata Banerjee says she has given a protectionist measure known as the 'Ratri Saathi' scheme. But protection for whom? To the women or the TMC thugs, who feed on women's flesh to satiate their carnal lust? Ratri Saathi is nothing but a draconian measure. It was meant to chase away women from workplaces, restraining them from doing night shifts and reserving darkness for TMC's marauding thugs."
Further, he said, "It is a brazen attempt at depriving the women of their basic rights, putting their freedom to work in fetters, convenience in constraint, and choice in chains. This scheme is a screaming testimony to Mamata Banerjee's penchant for preserving the ills of male chauvinism that haunts the women of Bengal."
Malviya said and concluded by attacking Banerjee's approach to women's issues: "At a time when women of Bengal are waging a war against the chains of patriarchy, Mamata Banerjee has chosen to stifle their fight. She is offering no protection, no empowerment, only the cowardly command: 'Women will not work at night'. That is not protection, that is oppression, plain and simple. Shame on her! Women must reclaim what is rightfully theirs! Women must reclaim the night."
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