LIVE| Bengal govt passes anti-rape ‘Aparajita Bill’; Opposition lends full support

West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday (September 3) unanimously passed the Aparajita anti-rape Bill after Opposition extended full support to it.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the anti-rape Bill aims at quick investigation, fast justice delivery and enhanced punishment.

Banerjee also demanded resignations Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, chief ministers of states, where the incidents of rape and sexual abuse were reported recently, for allegedly failing to implement effective legislations to safeguard women.

Stating that rape is a curse against humanity and social reforms required to stop such crimes, the Bengal CM said the Opposition should ask Governor CV Ananda Bose to sign the Aparajita bill. “It is our responsibility to enact it after that,” Mamata Banerjee said in the assembly.

Earlier, West Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak introduced the anti-rape Bill at the state assembly’s special session.

Key features

The legislation seeks capital punishment for persons convicted of rape if their actions result in the victim's death or leave her in a vegetative state.

Additionally, it stipulates a life sentence without parole for those convicted of rape and gang rape.

Titled the 'Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024,' the legislation aims to strengthen protections for women and children by revising and introducing new provisions related to rape and sexual offences.

A two-day special session of the Assembly has been summoned on Monday in the wake of the rape-murder of a woman medic at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month.

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