Mamata Banerjee cites Hathras, Unnao in speech on anti-rape bill: ‘What if I raise slogans against PM Modi, Amit Shah…’

Kolkata doctor rape-murder case: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday hailed the West Bengal anti-rape bill. In defending the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal and the Bengal Police, CM Mamata Banerjee flagged that there is an abnormally high rate of crimes against women in ‘states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat’.

“No one talks about what happened in Unnao (and) the victim of Hathras did not get justice…” Mamata Banerjee said in the West Bengal Assembly.

The West Bengal Assembly, on Tuesday, unanimously passed the anti-rape bill after Opposition BJP lent full support. The anti-rape bill proposes capital punishment for the rapist if the victim is dead or in a vegetative state.

Titled the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024,’ the legislation aims to strengthen protections for women and children by revising and introducing new provisions related to rape and sexual offences.

CM Mamata Banerjee hailed the anti-rape bill and said that she was thankful to opposition parties for lending their support. “Though everyone opposes me, I am not against them. I would like to say thank you to everyone, in the fight for women’s rights.”

The TMC supremo also recalled a ‘historic event’ and said, “I did not know when I fixed the day, but history repeats itself. September 3 is a historic day in the fight for women’s rights. In 1981 today is the day the United Nations convened the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination to protect the rights of women.”

“Once this bill is passed, we will form a special Aparajita Task Force from among police to ensure time-bound completion of the probe,” said the West Bengal chief minister.

Kolkata doctor rape case: What CM Mamata Banerjee said?

• “Rape is a curse against humanity, social reforms required to stop such crimes,” Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said in the Assembly.

• After the anti-rape bill was tabled in the Bengal Assembly, CM Mamata Banerjee said, “Opposition should ask the governor to sign the bill, it is our responsibility to enact it after that”.

• The CBI is currently investigating the Kolkata doctor’s rape and murder case. “We want justice from CBI, death by hanging of the guilty,” the Bengal CM remarked.

• “Through this anti-rape bill, we have tried to plug the loopholes that exist in the central legislation,” Mamata Banerjee said, hitting out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government.

• “Bengal was not consulted before passing Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (the new criminal justice system that replaced the IPC). We wanted discussions on it after the new govt formation,” CM Mamata Banerjee added.

• Citing abnormally high rates of crimes against women in states like UP and Gujarat, CM Banerjee said tortured women in Bengal are getting justice in court. She referenced grave incidents of rape and murder, including the 2020 rape of a 20-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh; the 2013 rape and brutal murder of a college student in North 24 Parganas’ Kamduni, Bengal; and the recent assault of a child at a government-run hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

• “What if I raise slogans against PM Narendra Modi (and) HM Amit Shah for the same reasons you are raising slogans against me,” CM Banerjee asked BJP MLAs in the Bengal assembly.

• “The anti-rape bill aims at quick investigation, fast justice delivery and enhanced punishment,” CM Mamata Banerjee added.