The political parties’ debate over the sensational rape and murder of a 31-year trainee doctor in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Kolkata has become quite sensitive as the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju from the Centre joins the political lobbying. On Wednesday, Rijiju reacted to the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024’ that had been passed by the West Bengal Legislative Assembly a day before.
Moving to the social media platform X, Rijiju posted a letter which was dated November 11, 2018, where he accused the Chief Minister of Mamata Banerjee of politicizing the death of the doctor by introducing the anti-rape bill. He further accused Banerjee of “failing to act” initially in order to stop the crime from being committed in the first instance. Rijiju added that Parliament passed a tough law in 2018 to handle serious crimes like rape besides setting up quick disposal courts for POCSO Act and other pending rape cases.
The Union Minister also accused that communication was made in 2019, 2020, and 2021, and the Trinamool Congress government had not given consent to implement the centrally sponsored scheme under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018. In his letter, Rijiju pointed out that 123 FTSCs, out of which 20 ePOCSO Courts were proposed for West Bengal, but the state government was Mum on consent.
Speaking to a news agency over the phone, Rijiju said, “I am sad that Mamata Banerjee has neglected her most sacred duty of providing justice for women and children at the earliest.” He pleaded that this money issue must not be politicized: strong laws, he said, are important, but strong actions are even more important.
In the same month, the West Bengal Assembly moved a bill called the ‘Aparajita Bill’ for approval which, in case of repeat rape, convicts sought capital punishment if the act led to the death of the victim or put her in a coma. Therefore, the Centre has given a challenging response to Trinamool Congress on the remarks made by Banerjee.
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