West Bengal passes anti-rape Bill, aims at quick probe and enhanced punishment

The decision came amid widespread outrage over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Kolkata: Though Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s government on Tuesday got a new Bill passed in the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal providing for the death penalty for rapists, the widespread outrage over the rape and murder of a doctor at a hospital in Kolkata continued to singe the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Just a day after the junior doctors staged a protest march, which turned into an overnight sit-in demonstration near the headquarters of the Kolkata Police, the Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), took to the streets. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also continued its protest demonstration in Kolkata, demanding the resignation of the TMC supremo from the chief minister's office.

Banerjee reacted to the BJP’s demand by asking for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as well as the chief ministers of all the states, which failed to “implement effective legislations to safeguard women”.

“We wanted the Centre to amend its existing laws and include stricter clauses to ensure exemplary punishment for perpetrators and quicker justice for victims. They showed no enthusiasm for it. That's why we made the move first. This Bill, once enacted, can serve as a model for the rest of the country,” the chief minister said after the Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill, 2024, was introduced in the state Assembly, which commenced its special session on Monday.

The Bill, which was later passed by the Assembly, proposed to amend the newly passed Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 laws, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 “in their application to the state of West Bengal” to enhance punishment and to constitute the framework for... expeditious investigation and trial of the heinous act of violence against women and children”.

While Section 64 of BNS has the provision to punish a rape convict with rigorous imprisonment for not less than 10 years or a life term, the Aparajita Bill seeks not only to enhance the jail term to the “remainder” of the convict’s natural life but also introduces the provision of death penalty.

The new Bill passed by the West Bengal Legislative Assembly also provides for only capital punishment for the convict if the rape leads to the death of the victim or causes her to be in a vegetative state, amending Section 66 of BNS, which lays down 20 years jail term or life imprisonment or death for the perpetrator in such a scenario.

The Aparajita Bill also amends Section 70 of BNS, doing away with the option of a 20-year jail term for gangrape convicts and providing only life imprisonment and death in such cases.

The Bill passed by the West Bengal assembly requires rape case investigations to be completed within 21 days of the report of the crime, with a possible extension of up to 15 days in some cases. It has provisions for setting up task forces to investigate cases of sexual assault and special courts to hear such cases.

The BJP legislators raised slogans demanding the resignation of the chief minister over the rape and murder of the young doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. The saffron party’s senior leader in West Bengal and the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, called the Bill an attempt by the TMC government to divert the attention from the people’s anger over the rape and murder of the doctor. He, however, extended full support to the Bill.

Adhikari, however, later called the Bill an “eyewash” after the ruling TMC opposed most of the amendments moved by him, including one seeking to insert a provision to penalise police personnel for failure to act on the complaints of rape and providing security to witnesses.

“Rape is a curse against humanity and social reforms are required to prevent such crimes,” said Banerjee, who had written two letters to the prime minister in the last few days seeking stringent central law and fast-track courts for expeditious trial in cases of sexual assault.

The state will constitute a special Aparajita Task Force comprising personnel from the state police force to ensure expeditious probes into the cases of rape, gang rape, and murder after rape and gang rape. She reminded the House that the Bill had been introduced and passed coinciding with the anniversary of the adoption by the United States of the 1981 convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.