The Trinamul Congress government is all set to table a Bill providing for capital punishment for convicted rapists in a two-day special session of the state Assembly that starts tomorrow. The Bill would be tabled for discussion and passage on Tuesday, the second day of the special session. The Bill, whose full details are not yet in the public domain, reportedly proposes to treat all rape cases on a par with murder; it is also said to provide for a life term as minimum punishment for the crime of rape.
The Bill is intended to address the widespread outrage and ongoing protests over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital earlier this month. “I will tell the Speaker to call the special session and in 10 days the law to ensure capital punishment for rapists. We will send the bill to the governor,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said at the Trinamul Congress Chhatra Parishad foundation day event on Wednesday. “I know he [the governor] won’t do anything.
But he will have to sign it. Or else women will sit in front of the Raj Bhawan. This time he won’t be able to send it to the President for consideration,” Mamata Banerjee added. The chief minister had earlier written twice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for a stringent antirape law and for swift punishment for the culprits in such cases.