'Will Shahjahan Sheikh be hanged?' BJP slams Bengal's anti-rape Bill; terms it 'diversionary tactic'

New Delhi: Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Tuesday slammed the anti-rape bill passed in the West Bengal assembly as a "diversionary tactic" and asked if Shahjahan Sheikh, the main accused in the Sandeshkhali sexual abuse case, will get the death penalty under the proposed law.

Talking to reporters, Chouhan, a senior BJP leader and the Union agriculture minister, accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of being "insensitive" towards women.

"Didi (Banerjee) has enacted the law under pressure. This is being done to divert attention from the R G Kar hospital rape-murder incident. Why did she not bring it earlier? Why didn't she show empathy earlier?" he asked.

Chouhan, who was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for multiple terms, said the BJP-ruled state enacted a similar law in 2017, and already 42 people have been awarded death sentences under the legislation.

He sought to know from Banerjee, who is also the state's ruling Trinamool Congress' supremo, if culprits of the R G Kar Medical College case, and people like Shahjahan Sheikh, a suspended TMC leader and the main accused in the Sandeshkhali sexual abuse case, too will get death penalty under the new law.

Several women had complained of sexual abuse in the Sandeshkhali area of West Bengal, the senior BJP said.

"Didi should answer. Will people like Shahjahan Sheikh too get the death penalty under this law? This is being done to distract attention. There is no point in making such laws," Chouhan said.

The bill was passed unanimously in a two-day special session of the assembly in the wake of the rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata last month that sparked nationwide protests.

The 'Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024' seeks capital punishment for rape convicts if their actions result in the victim's death or leave her in a vegetative state. It also stipulates a life sentence without parole for those convicted of rape.

The bill is being seen as a political response of the TMC government facing the heat over the ghastly rape-murder incident, with the BJP relentlessly attacking Banerjee. She has accused the BJP of using the incident to push its political agenda.

BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya, who is also a party co-incharge for the state, accused the West Bengal chief minister of trying to silence the media, saying the fine print of the proposed law seeks to limit reporting on judicial proceedings in rape cases.

"Why is Mamata Banerjee trying to silence the media? So much for free speech and press freedom," he said on X.