West Bengal Governor C V Anand Bose on Friday sent the anti-rape bill passed by the state assembly to President Draupadi Murmu for her assent, a Raj Bhavan official said. He said Chief Secretary Manoj Pant had submitted a technical report of the bill to Bose earlier in the day. The governor, after studying the bill, sent it to Murmu.
The official said, “The governor has sent the ‘Aparajita Bill’ to President Draupadi Murmu for consideration. She has sent it (to the President) after receiving the mandatory technical report from the state government.” Bose had on Thursday criticized the Mamata Banerjee administration for failing to send the technical report required to approve the bill.
The West Bengal Assembly on September 3 unanimously passed the ‘Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Law and Amendment) Bill 2024’. The proposed law provides for death penalty for the culprits if the victim dies or goes into a coma.
The bill aims to strengthen the safety of women and children through new provisions related to rape and sexual crimes. A two-day special session of the assembly was called to introduce and pass the bill in view of the widespread protests that continued after the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at the government RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.