Bengal Assembly Passes Anti-Rape ‘Aparajita Bill’, Seeks Death for Rapists, Special Task Force

Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly passed the newly drafted anti-rape Bill unanimously on Tuesday.

Titled the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024,’ 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.

BJP’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari proposed amendments to the Bill which were not accepted by the House. The TMC government had called up a two-day special session of the Assembly in the wake of the rape-murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. .

Amid demands of the Bengal Chief Minister’s resignation by the opposition, Mamata Banerjee addressed the House and hailed the new anti-rape Bill as “model” and “historic”. She also said that a special unit of the state police — ‘Aparajita Task Force’– will be set up once the Bill becomes a law.