Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking stringent laws against rape. Her letter comes against the backdrop of ongoing agitation in demand of justice for a lady doctor who was found raped and murdered inside the seminar room of RG Kar Medical College Hospital in the early morning of August 9.
“It is horrifying to see this trend. It shakes the confidence and conscience of society and the nation. It is our bounden duty to put an end to it so that women feel safe and secure. Such a serious and sensitive issue needs to be addressed comprehensively through stringent central legislation that prescribes exemplary punishment for those involved in these dastardly crimes,” the Chief Minister wrote.
She added, “To ensure quick justice, trials should preferably be completed within 15 days.”
“Setting up of fast-track special courts for speedy trials in such cases should also be considered in the proposed legislation to ensure quick justice. Trial in such cases should preferably be completed within 15 days,” the letter read.
Part of the letter was read out to the media men by Advisor to the Chief Minister Alapan Bandopadhyay.
With her Government and police under attack from all sides for the “shabby and insensitive handling” of the investigation into the rape and murder of the junior doctor the Chief Minister’s letter also tended to remind how 90 rapes occurred every day on an average in the country.
The Opposition is also accusing the Chief Minister for “trying to shield some officials who are responsible for the law and order mess not only inside R GKMCH but also in the entire health department.”
In what the experts called Banerjee’s “age old tactic” to play to the electoral gallery, she wrote, “according to the available data it is horrifying to see that almost 90 cases of rape occur daily throughout the country this shakes the confidence and conscience of the society and the nation,” adding how it was “bounden duty of all of us” to put an end to it “so that the women can feel safe.”
Meanwhile, the junior doctors’ protest against the alleged gang rape and murder of one of their colleagues turned political --- with the Opposition BJP on Thursday hitting the streets and fighting pitched battles with the police at various places in their bid to gherao the Swasthya Bhavan at Salt Lake which houses the State Health Department.
In the melee the police arrested Bengal Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari as there were commotions in various parts of Salt Lake, north east of Kolkata where the BJP men jostled with the police while trying to march to the Swasthya Bhawan.
“Enough is enough … we want the departure of Mamata Banerjee … we want her to resign as the Chief Minister because she has failed to discharge her duties as the Health Minister and the Police Minister … he has been the worst Chief Minister of Bengal who has ruined the State and handed it over to the criminals, rapists, goons and felons,” Adhikari said adding, “now time has come when she should quit.”
Several leaders including Dilip Ghosh, Sukanta Majumdar managed to reach within a few kms of the Swasthya Bhavan where they held a dharna demanding justice for the victim of the RG Kar Medical College victim. In the melee a number of BJP workers were arrested, sources said.
