Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar in Nadia district, Mahua Moitra, said that consensual sex with a minor, i.e., someone below 18 years of age, is rape as per the law and a crime. She said this after visiting the residence of the minor victim and interacting with the members of her family.
Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra. (Photo: IANS)
A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave a “love- angle” twist to the rape of a minor girl, who died later at Hanskhali in Nadia district, a first-time Trinamool Congress member chose to contradict the theory on legal grounds.
Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Krishnanagar in Nadia district, Mahua Moitra, said that consensual sex with a minor, i.e., someone below 18 years of age, is rape as per the law and a crime. She said this after visiting the residence of the minor victim and interacting with the members of her family.
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As per the Prevention of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, even consensual sex is considered rape if it involves a minor girl.
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“A girl below the age of 18 is minor and the law does not identify the right of a minor to give consent for sex. Consensual sex with a minor, as per the law, is considered as aggravative penetration for sexual assault.
“As a party MP, all I want to say is that I am totally against such incidents. I cannot speak of others. But I will not tolerate such things,” Moitra said.
“What has happened is not right. I condemn it. The police have arrested the accused. But the opposition parties and a section of the media are trying to give a political twist to the entire event. I have received the news that there was a love affair between the accused and the victim. So why come to a conclusion before the investigation is completed,” Banerjee had said on Monday.
Speaking to the mediapersons on Tuesday, Moitra said that the state government has decided to take a zero-tolerance approach towards such incidents.
“The only identity of the accused is that he is a criminal. He does not have any political identity,” Moitra said.
Incidentally, the prime accused arrested in this case, Brajagopal Goyala, is the son of a local Trinamool Congress panchayat member, Samar Goyala.
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