‘Don’t Make It Political, CM Ignored Sacred Duty’: Kiren Rijiju Responds To Mamata Govt’s Anti-Rape Bill

The political back-and-forth over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital stayed on track as Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju responded to the anti-rape Bill unanimously passed in the West Bengal legislative assembly on Tuesday (September 3).

Rijiju alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee — by introducing the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024’ — has turned the woman doctor’s death into a “political issue” having “failed to act” to prevent the crime in the first place.

According to him, in 2018, Parliament passed a “stringent law to deal with heinous crimes like rape” through which it sought to establish fast-track special courts (FTSC) to speed up trial and disposal of pending rape and POCSO Act cases. He alleged that the Trinamool Congress government, despite several communications in 2019, 2020 and 2021, failed to consent to this centrally sponsored scheme under a Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018.

“This is an extremely serious matter. Please don’t make it political issue. Very strong laws are necessary but strong actions are more important. When the letter was written, media had carried this news extensively, but West Bengal Govt failed to act!” he said in a post on social media, along with the letter.

The undated letter from Rijiju addressing Banerjee states that as per Supreme Court directions, “one exclusive POCSO (ePOCSO) court was required to be set up in districts wherever pendency of POCSO related cases was more than 100”. It said 123 fast-track courts, including 20 ePOCSO courts, were earmarked for West Bengal. Hence, to this effect, communications were sent on December 12, 2019, March 16, 2020, July 16, 2020, February 19, 2021, seeking the state government’s intervention.

“I feel sad that Chief Minister of West Bengal ignored her most sacred duty of providing quick Justice for women & children. This letter of 2021 clearly shows it. In 2018, a stringent law was passed by – Parliament to deal with heinous crimes like Rape.. State Govts must act!” he wrote in another post on X.

This comes after a tension-filled assembly session during which the leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari heavily criticised the state government’s attempt to “eyewash” and divert attention from the unrest caused by the RG Kar rape-murder case. Later in a post on social media, he alleged that the Mamata Banerjee-led government, instead of providing safer workplaces for women, was trying to curtail their night-time working hours through one of the provisions of the legislation.

He said Banerjee must resign as the home minister of the state for “admitting on the floor of the West Bengal legislative assembly that working women are not safe during night in West Bengal”.

“Previously your chief advisor Alapan Bandyopadhyay announced it from Nabanna. Today you gave your assent by confessing that you are going to curtail the night time working hours of ladies, as because your government has failed to provide a secured working environment for working women during night,” he said on X.

He added: “Now the question is what would happen to the women patients admitted in hospitals during night? Who will attend to them? What about their safety and dignity? The only solution to this problem is that you must resign and make way for an able administrator.”

His comments came after the chief minister, in a post on X, hailed the Aparajita Bill as “historic” and one that addresses “pertinent issues caused by gaps in the existing criminal laws”.

“A society that cannot ensure the safety of its women can never be ideal. Today, GoWB passed the historic Aparajita anti-rape Bill to address pertinent issues caused by gaps in the existing criminal laws. Let us all unite together and address this menace collectively!” she said on X.