BJP supports anti-rape bill, wants police punished for refusing to lodge FIR

In the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday, 3 September the BJP supported the Bill that provides enhanced punishment, death penalty in case the victim dies, in all cases of sexual violence against women and children. The leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari also moved an amendment to provide for mandatory punishment of police officers for either refusing or delaying the process of registering the FIR in such cases.

BJP legislators also raised slogans demanding the resignation of the chief minister, provoking her to demand the resignation of the prime minister and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states which had failed to protect women. In Gujarat, the PM’s home state, she pointed out, there were five lakh cases of violence against women according to the latest NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) report for the year 2022. Uttar Pradesh had seven lakh cases as opposed to one and a half lakh cases in West Bengal, she claimed.

In her combative address, she went on to claim that when her party took over the reins of the government in 2011, there was not a single Fast track Court in the state.

Today, she added, the state has 88 of them and the state government continues to fund them though the Centre had stopped providing any assistance. The state in addition has 52 designated courts for speedy trials in criminal cases related to women.

Amidst disruptions during her address, she dared the leader of the opposition and BJP legislators to tell the Governor to give assent to the Bill quickly, in an oblique reference to the Governor’s partisan conduct. She reminded the House that the Bill would come into force only after the assent of the Governor and the President. The chief minister also taunted the opposition by pointing out, ‘you control the courts and the state government has no say over them’, apparently referring to several judges of Calcutta high court having joined the BJP in the recent past or admitting to their links with the RSS.

She also defended actions of the police and state government following the rape-and-murder of the junior doctor at RG Kar medical college and hospital. Not only had the police arrested the main culprit within 12 hours, she had directed the investigating officer to meet the family of the deceased and brief them about the investigation. She herself had met the family on 12 August and offered to hand over the case to the CBI if the police failed to unravel the case. The very next day, however, the Calcutta high court had ordered police to hand over the case to the CBI.

The Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024 provides for increased punishment, speedy investigation, and rapid dispensation of justice in cases of sexual assault under the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The State government will form a special ‘Aparajita Task Force’ to ensure time-bound completion of the probe, once the Bill becomes the law. The legislation also requires that investigation into rape cases be concluded within 21 days of the initial report.