Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has slammed the BJP-led Centre accusing it of being the catalyst behind the return of the The Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024 without getting assent from the President of India.
The ruling party in Bengal alleged that the BJP was trying to stop the Bill from turning into a law only to save some of its leaders who were accused of sexual assaults. The Bill which was passed by the state Legislative Assembly in September last year seeking the death penalty and other stringent punishments for rape convicts, has been returned by the Centre after review. The Bill seeks changes in Sections 64, 65, 66, 70 and 71 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). It also promises amendments to various sections of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. It was learnt that the Bill was returned for further review by the state. The Centre wrote in its note that punishments proposed for some of the crimes mentioned in the document clashed with existing provisions in Sections 63, 64 and 65 of the BNS which replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2023.
“Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who is the driving force behind the Bill wants stringent punishment for people involved in atrocities on women. The BJP has once again proved by returning the Bill that it doesn’t want the death penalty for such offenders,” Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
It was learnt that Governor CV Ananda Bose referred the Bill to President Droupadi Murmu for review on September 6 last year, three days after the Assembly unanimously passed the Bill amid a nationwide row over the rape and murder of a junior doctor inside Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. A delegation of Trinamool Congress Parliament members met the President in February seeking her assent to the Bill while it was being studied by the Centre.