Bengal govt will amend existing laws to ensure death penalty to rapists: Mamata

Kolkata, Aug 28 (PTI) Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.

Banerjee said that she would sit for dharna outside Raj Bhavan here if the governor delays in giving assent to the amended bill or forwards it to the President for ratification.

The chief minister also said that the TMC will launch a movement from Saturday at the state’s grassroots to create pressure on the Centre to pass legislation for capital punishment of convicted rapists.

“We will pass the amended bill in a special session of the assembly next week. We will then send it to the governor for his nod. We will stage dharna outside Raj Bhavan if he sits on the bill,” she thundered from the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad foundation day rally here.

The CM said women will be at the forefront of the proposed dharna accompanied by “their brothers”.

She also flagged the issue of the sexual misconduct allegations levelled by a former Raj Bhavan woman staffer and accused C V Ananda Bose of making “false charges” against her government and party.

Banerjee also urged the agitating junior doctors of Bengal, who have struck work for 20 days now to urgently consider returning to duty.

“I have remained sympathetic towards the cause of the doctors from the very beginning since they were seeking justice for their colleague. We did not take any action against them although so many days have passed since the incident. We understand your pain. But please come back to work now since patients are suffering,” she appealed.

The police recovered the body of the woman’s postgraduate trainee doctor from the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

The junior doctors of state-run hospitals have been on cease work since that evening, demanding justice for the victim and strong security measures in hospitals.

Banerjee added no FIR was lodged against any doctor so far as she does not want that a medic’s career to plagued by police cases.

“Sixteen days have passed since the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the doctor’s rape-murder probe from the Kolkata Police. Where is the justice? We want the CBI to come up with investigation updates,” she said.

Denouncing the BJP for calling a 12-hour general strike on Wednesday, Banerjee said, “They called the bandh since they wanted political dividends over a dead body. The BJP is trying to exploit the emotions of ordinary people in the wake of the death of the young woman. They want to malign Bengal and plotted a conspiracy to derail the probe into her death.”

“If Bengal is set on fire, Assam, northeast, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Delhi will also be affected,” the TMC chief said.

She also said that the Bombay High Court recently restrained political parties or individuals from proceeding with a Maharashtra bandh.

On the demand for her resignation in the wake of the RG Kar hospital incident, she said, “I will ask BJP why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not resign owning up to his failure to prevent atrocities and sexual attacks on women in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Assam. I ask why only an accused was killed in an encounter in Assam?”

The BJP is making such demands as it has suffered a string of defeats in elections and knows that it won’t be able to win in future, Banerjee said.

“Buses with TMCP supporters on board were attacked. Several trains were delayed. From railways to CBI and ED, everything is being controlled by partisan BJP,” she said.

The TMC boss also alleged that the BJP was “indulging in large-scale cyber crimes using AI, causing social unrest”.

On the march to state secretariat Nabanna on Tuesday, the chief minister said, “Police acted in restraint despite provocations of BJP-backed outfits who wanted protestors dead (in police action). Despite suffering physical injuries from the attacks on them, police personnel did not fall prey to provocations.

She said every attacker will be identified and action taken.

Banerjee said she had earlier espoused the slogan “badla noy badal chai” (we want change, not revenge), the time has come to change that. Now we say resist and protest whenever you are insulted, whenever you face ugly attack, don’t take it lying down.

Alleging that the BJP has hatched a conspiracy to stall Durga Puja festivities in Bengal, she said that poor people wait for the puja for economic reasons.

About the comparison between the uprising in Bangladesh and the public outcry following the RG Kar hospital incident, Banerjee said the situations are different.

“We (people in West Bengal and Bangladesh) speak the same language and share similar food, and it ends there,” she said.

The CM said that on August 31, the TMC student wing will demand capital punishment for convicted rapists in every college. It will be followed up the next by holding dharnas in every block of the state.