Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmakers met President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday with an appeal to immediately approve the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024. Pursuant to Section 201(1) of the Constitution, the bill has been pending presidential assent from September 6, last year, when Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose put it up for the President’s consideration.
More specific to the legislation would be the punishment handed out for rape and particularly for rape and murder, which would include the imposition of the death penalty. It was to provide speed in the delivery of swift justice by setting time frames for investigation and trial in order to avoid delays that can deprive victims of justice. Led by the main opposition Left Front, the West Bengal Assembly unanimously passed the bill with the Opposition on board on the basis of its political consensus over the need for harsher tools to fight the crimes against women.
The delegation had an extensive discussion with President Murmu after the meeting and then spoke to reporters about the importance of the bill, Lok Sabha parliamentary party leader of TMC Sudip Bandyopadhyay told reporters. “Bipartite support in the West Bengal Assembly failed to secure the President’s approval of the bill. We explained in detail why there is an urgent need for action.”
On the other hand, the TMC representative said that the bill was made so that the people have confidence in the justice system and that timely decisions are taken, which acts as a strong deterrent against such heinous crimes. It gained further traction after a junior doctor was brutally murdered in Kolkata, and emotive protests and national outrage followed the incident.
The bill includes amending specific provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) which has been implemented from July 1. Currently, rape that leads to death or death of the victim resulting in a permanent vegetative state would amount to a capital crime and carry, in accordance with Article 107(2) of the BNS, a minimum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
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