Bengal guv criticises CM for not sending technical report along with anti-rape Bill

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Thursday evening criticised the Mamata Banerjee administration for "failing to send" the technical report along with a recently passed anti-rape Bill which is necessary for giving assent to it, an official said.

Bose was very disappointed as it has been a regular practice of the state not to send technical reports along with Bills and then blaming the governor's office for not clearing them, he claimed.

"The governor criticised the state administration for failing to attach the technical report along with the Aparajita Bill. As per the rule, it is mandatory for the state government to send the technical report before a decision is taken on giving assent to the Bill," the Raj Bhavan official told PTI.

"This is not the first time that the government has withheld technical reports and blamed the Raj Bhavan for not clearing Bills," he added.

The governor also admonished the state government for failing to do homework in important matters such as this.

"Bose has pointed out that the (Aparajita) Bill appears to be a copy-paste of similar Bills passed by Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

The source said that the governor expressed his opinion that Banerjee was threatening a dharna "only to hoodwink the people of West Bengal as she is also fully well aware that similar Bills are pending with the President of India".

The West Bengal Assembly on September 3 unanimously passed the 'Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024' that seeks capital punishment for rape convicts if their actions result in the victim's death or leave her in a vegetative state and life sentence without parole for other perpetrators.

Other significant features of the proposed legislation include the completion of probes into rape cases within 21 days of the initial report, a reduction from the previous two-month deadline, and a special task force where women officers will lead investigations.