Bengal passes anti-rape law amid Kolkata uproar
West Bengal's assembly passed a bill mandating death for rape and murder, amid protests over a doctor's murder, sparking political tensions.
The West Bengal assembly on Tuesday unanimously cleared a stringent new bill that sought to make the death penalty mandatory in cases involving rape and murder, setting the stage for a protracted political face-off against the backdrop of the grisly death of a junior doctor in Kolkata last month that has sparked sweeping protests.
Introduced by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, sought to change several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The punishment for rape, gang rape acid attacks, and repeat offenders is proposed to be imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s life. Under BNS, if rape results in the victim’s death or leaves her in a persistent vegetative state, death penalty is only one of the punishments besides life term or minimum sentence of 20 years in jail .
For rape and murder, the proposed punishment is death. For revealing the identity of the victim, a jail term between three and five years was proposed.
The bill also proposed amendments to various sections of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 to ensure timebound trial, more fast-track courts, and added infrastructure for law enforcement agencies.
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In her speech, Banerjee referred to crimes against women in BJP-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh and sought the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, triggering allegations from the BJP that she wanted to divert attention from the outrage over the Kolkata crime.
“We wanted the Centre to amend its existing laws and include stricter clauses to ensure exemplary punishment for perpetrators and quicker justice to victims. They showed no enthusiasm for it. That’s why we made the move first,” Banerjee said in the assembly.
“This bill, once enacted, can serve as a model for the rest of the country.”
Criminal law falls under the concurrent list of the Constitution, meaning both the state and central legislatures have the authority to make amendments. States can enact their own laws as long as they do not conflict with central legislation. In cases of conflict or repugnancy, the central law takes precedence. However, if a state law that has a conflict with a central legislation receives the President’s assent, it becomes effective within that state.
All eyes will now be on governor CV Ananda Bose, who is likely to refer the bill for presidential assent but who has had several run-ins with the state government over withholding approvals for past legislation.
Two similar bills in the past – a 2019 Andhra Pradesh bill (Disha Bill) mandating stricter punishments for certain crimes against women and a 2020 Maharashtra legislation (Shakti Bill) enhancing punishments for crimes against women – have not yet received presidential approval.
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The future of the bill triggered a showdown in the assembly. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) backed it, but asked whether the state followed constitutional norms while framing it.
“BNS already has the provision for the death sentence. But when BNS was introduced our chief minister questioned it. We will wait and see if she can frame laws from this bill,” said leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
Banerjee shot back at him during her reply.
“Please tell the governor to sign the bill so that it can be sent to the President for assent. We will see how law is not framed even after that,” she told Adhikari. In the past, she has threatened an agitation if Bose doesn’t sign the bill.
Banerjee referred to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, saying Bengal was not the first state seeking stricter law to stop crime against women. “A disease needs a cure. Conviction rate in rape cases is very low in this country,” she said.
The development comes at a critical juncture for the Trinamool Congress government, which is battling adverse public opinion and mounting street protests over its alleged fumbles in the handling of the 31-year-old doctor’s rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital.
The body of the second-year postgraduate student, who was allegedly raped and murdered inside a seminar hall of the hospital, was found on August 9. The crime took place at the third-floor seminar hall of the chest department late at night and police later said that multiple lacerations and wounds were found on her body.
A 31-year-old civic volunteer with the police, Sanjay Roy, was arrested the next day in connection with the case and was sent to 14-day police custody. The investigation was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which arrested the former principal of the college Sandip Ghosh and three others on charges of corruption on Monday.
But Banerjee is battling mounting condemnation of her administration’s lapses in handling the sensational case – a delay in filing the first information report, the hospital authorities telling the family that it was a case of suicide, dithering in removing Ghosh and then reinstating him at another prominent hospital four hours later, and the vandalism at the hospital during citywide protests at midnight on August 14, among others.
The BJP said the bill was aimed at diverting attention from those protests. “Why didn’t the Mamata government introduce the bill earlier? Those responsible for the RG Kar incident should get the death sentence,” Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.
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In all, the bill sought to amendsevensections of BNS. It also proposed amendments to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to ensure medical expenses and rehabilitation of victims, setting up of special courts and constitution of a task force headed by a deputy superintendent of police for investigation of “specified offences.”
It sought to amend Section 193 of the BNSS so that investigations are completed within “21 days” instead of “two months.”
It proposed amendments to Section 32 of the Pocso Act so that 10-year imprisonment, life imprisonment and fine are changed to “imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, or with death and fine.”
The assembly witnessed noisy scenes during the debate with Banerjee referring to the rapes and murders of women and minors in BJP-ruled states such as the 2017 Unnao case and the 2020 rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras, and demanded the resignations of Modi, Shah and the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states. She specifically named Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand citing crime incidents.
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“States like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have abnormally high crime rates against women whereas in West Bengal, tortured women are getting justice in courts,” she said amid chaos in the House. She also reiterated her call for the death penalty in the RG Kar case.
Adhikari and his colleagues demanded Banerjee’s resignation. “We also want immediate enactment of the Bill after its passage….the chief minister failed to ensure the safety of a doctor at a state-run hospital last month as her government failed to bring to justice the culprits in past incidents,” he said.