Kolkata: Abhishek Banerjee, the general secretary of the TMC Trinamool Congress and a member of the Lok Sabha, called on all state governments to exert pressure on the central government to draft a comprehensive anti-rape law to guarantee a prompt trial and fair proceedings.
“State governments must act and urgently push the Union for a comprehensive anti-rape law that ensures swift and strict justice. Anything less is merely symbolic and tragically ineffective,” said Banerjee in a statement issued in the morning posted on his official X handle.
He said the country needs strict regulations requiring the trial and conviction processes to be completed within 50 days, with harsh penalties and “not just empty promises.”
The horrifying rape and killing of a woman junior doctor at the government-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata earlier this month sparked nationwide protests over the last ten days, and he also mentioned that 90 rapes daily had been reported from various parts of the country during that time.
“Sadly, a lasting solution still remains largely undiscussed. With 90 rapes reported daily, 4 every hour and 1 every 15 minutes – the urgency for decisive action is clear,” his statement read.
Previously, after the woman doctor’s body was found on hospital grounds early on August 9, Banerjee demanded the harshest penalties possible in situations of violent rape and murder, including encounters with the perpetrators.
Following the vandalism at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital emergency room on Independence Day at midnight, he released a statement pleading with police to make sure that everyone accountable for the violence—regardless of political affiliation—is apprehended, charged, and made to face the law within the next twenty-four hours.
The announcement is made at a time when the Trinamool Congress government is being heavily criticised for how it has handled the matter of the doctor who was allegedly raped and killed. In Kolkata and throughout the country, doctors have been demonstrating over the problem.
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–IANS
