Mita Mukherjee
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said “hang till death” is the only punishment for a crime like the rape and murder of the junior doctor of Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The chief minister said that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape and it strongly demands capital punishment to convicted rapists.
“ For a crime like this, there is only one punishment — hang till death,” the chief minister thundered while addressing the Trinamul Congress (TMC) Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of the TMC, rally today in Kolkata.
She said her government is getting ready to pass a bill in the state Assembly next week to amend the existing laws to ensure each every person proved guilty of rape gets capital punishment.
She said like the state governor has done with many other bills, if he delays in giving assent to the proposed bill or sends it to the President for ratification, she will organize a dharna outside Raj Bhavan and ask women to participate in the dharna till the governor’s assent is received.
She said her party, Trinamul Congress will organize statewide movement at the grass root level from Saturday to press for its demand to the Centre to pass legislation for capital punishments of convicted rapists.
“ We have started preparations to pass the bill in the assembly. A special session of the assembly will be held next week and the bill will be passed within ten days. Once the bill is passed, it will be sent to the governor for his nod. We will not accept any delay from the governor. We will not allow him to forward the bill to the President for ratification. We will stage dharna outside Raj Bhavan if the government sits on the bill,” the chief minister said addressing the Trinamul Congress (TMC) Chhatra Parishad, rally today which was organized to commemorate the 27th foundation day of the students’ body.
Addressing the gathering, the chief minister came down heavily against the CBI which is now probing the rape and murder case for its delay in the investigation.
“ Where is justice?” she asked. The CBI took over the case 16 days ago. But, what is the progress in the investigation,” she asked.
The chief minister said she supports the ongoing junior doctors’ movement but she urged them to rejoin work as many poor people are not getting treatment.
Also read: RG Kar case: BJP calls 12-hour strike, schools likely to be affected
Posted in News, States
