Kolkata: A delegation of Trinamool Congress Parliamentarians, from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, met President Droupadi Murmu, seeking quick approval of the new bill Aparajita Women & Child (West Bengal Criminal Law) Bill, that seeks capital punishment for convicts in rape and murder cases.
BJP leaders in West Bengal have ridiculed the development and claimed that the visit as a farcical exercise by the state’s ruling party considering the deplorable role on part of the state administration on the entire rape and murder issue.
The Bill was passed on the floor of the West Bengal Assembly in September last year amid nationwide and to an extent worldwide protests over the ghastly rape and murder of a junior woman doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata in August last year.
The team of Trinamool Congress MPs led by the party’s leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay and Derek O’Brien, on Thursday afternoon, met President Droupadi Murmu and handed over to her a three-page letter detailing why the prompt clearance of the Bill by the President’s office is necessary.
Trinamool Congress insiders, aware of the contents of the letter, said that it had detailed the provisions in the proposed bill for completion of investigations in such cases in 21 days and filing of chargesheets within 30 days.
The letter has also detailed the provisions of quick completion of the trial process in the matter as well as some proposed additions in the provisions under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act.
However, BJP’s Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal described the development as a farcical exercise by the ruling party in the state.
“Even we want the highest punishment for convicts in such cases. But Trinamool Congress is playing to the gallery on this issue. First the state administration made all attempts to destroy evidence in the R.G. Kar rape and murder tragedy. Now they are trying to project how serious they are in the matter,” Bhattacharya said.
