Aparajita Bill: Bengal's Anti-Rape Law Faces Longer Wait As Guv Holds It Up Citing Lack Of Technical Report

Aparajita Bill: West Bengal's Aparajita Bill, an anti-rape law, is delayed after Governor CV Ananda Bose refused to sign it without a technical report.

Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Governor CV Ananda Bose seem to be on a fresh war path over the Aparjita Bill.

Source : PTI

Aparajita Bill: West Bengal's anti-rape bill, the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment) Bill, 2024, or simply the Aparajita Bill, faces a longer wait to become a law. On Thursday, Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose refused to sign the Bill, unanimously passed by the government and the Opposition, citing a lack of technical report.

CV Anand Bose said that the Aparajita Bill is pending as the Mamata Banerjee government has not sent the technical report along with it. The Aparajita Bill cannot be approved without the technical report. A statement issued by the Raj Bhavan on Thursday, September 5, said that Governor Anand Bose is not happy with the Mamata government's conduct. 

Mamata Government Has Done This Before: CV Ananda Bose

The Raj Bhavan said that this is not the first time such a situation has risen. Nabanna has not sent the technical reports of several bills passed earlier by the assembly, due to which they remain pending, said CV Ananda Bose. The Mamata government later blames the Raj Bhavan for this. As per the rules, the government is duty-bound to send the technical report before a decision is taken on giving assent to the Bill.

Governor CV Ananda Bose said the government must do their homework in important matters like this.

'Copy-Paste Bill'

The Governor claimed that the Aparajita Bill appeared to be a copy-paste of similar Bills passed by Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Arunachal Pradesh. "Knowing that some of these Bills are awaiting the assent from the President of India, Mamata Banerjee is threatening dharna only to fool the people of Bengal," he said. The Governor took strong exception to such "gimmicks at this critical juncture in Bengal’s contemporary history".

CV Ananda Bose also expressed his displeasure at political gimmicks on such a sensitive issue, ignoring the sentiments of the parents of the victim. Bose is said to have commented, "This appears to be a government of half-wits run on half-truths.”

Aparajita Bill Unanimously Passed By Bengal Assembly

After the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, questions were being raised about the safety of women in the state. Protests are taking place across the state over this matter. After this, the state government presented the anti-rape bill in the West Bengal Assembly on September 3. 

According to this bill, the police have to complete the investigation of the rape case within 21 days. After the bill was passed in the assembly, it was sent to the governor. After passing from here, the bill will be sent to the President. Only after getting the seal from here, this bill will be able to become law.

The government and the Opposition members unanimously passed the Bill.