On Tuesday, West Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak introduced the anti-rape Bill at the State Assembly special session. During the discussion of the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) law, 2024, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee referred to it as a historic law and asked BJP legislators to push the Governor of the State to sign it.A lady doctor was raped and murdered at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in August, prompting the introduction of this Bill.
“I had told the family of the deceased that we will hand over the case to the CBI if the police was unable to crack it… Now, the case is with the CBI at the directions of the Calcutta High Court. Now, we want justice from CBI. The CBI should hang the culprits,” she said.
Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, expressed his full support for the law, saying that opposition BJP legislators want it implemented soon. The new legislation demands capital punishment for those convicted of rape if their actions kill the victim or put her in a vegetative state.
In addition, offenders convicted of rape and gang rape face a life sentence without parole. The legislation seeks to increase protections for women and children by updating and introducing new rules concerning rape and sexual offences.
A two-day extraordinary session of the Assembly was called on Monday (September 2, 2024) in response to the outrage over the occurrence at R.G. Kar College and Hospital.