TMC Leader Abhishek Banerjee Seeks Passage of Aparajita Bill for Time-Bound Punishment of Rape Convicts

Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Panihati Ratna Debnath. He asked Debnath to get the pending Aparajita Bill passed at the earliest for the President's assent. Ratna Debnath is the mother of the lady doctor who was murdered after being raped in RG Kar Hospital and this case is also related to her. The bill was passed in the Bengal Assembly in September 2024 after the RG Kar incident. It provides for completing the investigation of rape cases in 21 days. It also provides for capital punishment to the guilty by setting up a fast track court. However, the bill has not received the assent of the President to become a law. The TMC national general secretary while addressing a gathering after a road show in support of party candidate Tirthankar Ghosh at Panihati in North 24 Parganas said that the proposed bill provides for time-bound punishment to rape convicts within 50 days and the West Bengal Assembly passed the Aparajita Women's Rape (West Bengal) Bill in September 2024 to amend several sections of the Women's Rape in Children Act.