The West Bengal Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) 2024’, providing for a mandatory death penalty for the crime of rape and murder, on Tuesday. The Bill seeks to make amendments in the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 to provide for enhanced punishment and shorter timelines for investigation and trial relating to the crimes of rape or rape and murder.

The Mamata Banerjee government tabled the Bill amid the nationwide protests against the rape and murder of a woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, participating in the debate on the Bill, said it was being brought in to secure the dignity of women. She said that it “was a matter of shame that the Prime Minister could not do what her government did”.

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Since the Prime Minister could not take any initiative in protecting women in the country, Miss Banerjee said, he should resign and the Union Home Minister should also resign. She was responding after BJP legislators raised slogans in the Assembly demanding her resignation over the RG Kar rapeand-murder incident. “Let the Prime Minister first put in his papers,” she said, citing burgeoning cases of rape all over the country and the way perpetrators are let off the hook in BJP ruled states despite committing heinous crimes. Miss Banerjee said: “Rape is a crime against humanity.

We want exemplary punishment for the perpetrators through speedy trial. To ensure that this new Bill had been tabled.” “Some are saying that we can’t bring in new legislation. We are telling them that the Constitution has given us the right to legislate a new law. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, have already passed such Bills, she said. She said that the Governor should promptly clear the bill from his end so that it could be sent to the office of the President for final clearance there. She said: “The three significant purposes of the Bill are stringent punishment, swift investigation and speedy justice.

ENHANCED PUNISHMENTS

�For the offence of rape (Section 64, BNS), the punishment is sought to be enhanced to life imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s natural life or death, with a fine.

�For the offence of rape where the victim is left in a vegetative state or where the victim dies (Section 66 BNS) the death penalty is sought to be made mandatory as punishment, along with a fine.

�For gang rape (Section 70(1) BNS), the Bill prescribes life imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s life or the death penalty along with a fine.

SHORTER DEADLINES

�Section 193 of the BNSS is sought to be amended to provide a shorter timeline (within 21 days instead of two months) for completion of probe in rape cases.

�The Bill also proposes amending Section 346(1) of the BNSS so that inquiry or trial of such cases is completed within 30 days from the date of filing the chargesheet.

SPECIAL COURTS AND TASK FORCE

�The Bill also proposed an amendment to the BNSS to establish special courts under a new Section, namely Section 29A, tasked with ensuring the expeditious completion of inquiries or trials in rape and related cases.

�The Bill introduces Section 29C, which calls for the creation of a special task force (Aparajita Task Force) at the district level to handle rape cases.