Bengal to pass a Bill to ensure capital punishment for rapists, says Mamata

Digital Desk: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has voiced her dissatisfaction with the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) progress in probing the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Announcing her government's plans, Banerjee declared that an assembly session would be convened next week to pass a Bill ensuring capital punishment for rapists within 10 days.

"We will send this Bill to the Governor. If he doesn't pass, we will sit outside Raj Bhavan. This Bill must be passed, and he cannot evade accountability this time," Banerjee asserted, emphasizing the urgency of enacting stricter laws in response to the brutal crime.

Speaking at an event to mark the foundation day of the Trinamool Congress’s students' wing, Banerjee recounted her visit to the victim’s grieving parents just two days after their daughter was found dead on duty in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. She expressed frustration at the delay in justice, stating, "I asked for five days, but the case was sent to the CBI. They don't want justice. They want a delay. It has been 16 days, where is justice?"

Kolkata has seen widespread unrest following a protest rally that spiralled into violence. In response, Union Minister and West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumder called for a 12-hour bandh across the state.

On Tuesday, the ‘Paschim Banga Chatra Samaj’ and other organizations organized a protest march, the ‘Nabanna Abhiyan’, starting from College Square and heading towards the West Bengal Secretariat ‘Nabanna’. The rally was intended to protest the rape and murder at RG Kar Medical College, with heightened security measures in place as protesters gathered in the Santragachi area of Howrah.