Centre objects to Mamata Govt's Aparajita Bill, calls death penalty ‘harsh, disproportionate’
The bill related to women’s safety raised before the West Bengal government and against the ruling party after repeated incidents of violent incidents and rape cases against women.
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| snap: The Telegraph, Kolkata |
The Union Home Ministry has raised constitutional concerns, arguing that removing judicial discretion in sentencing violates established legal norms and Supreme Court rulings.
The centre has flagged multiple provisions in the Bill as problematic.
The state Governor has now referred the objections raised by the centre for appropriate consideration of the state government.
It is understood that the BJP-led central government has described the proposal of amendment to 'Section 64 of the BNS' to increase the punishment for rape from a minimum of 10 years to life imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s life or the death penalty as excessively harsh and disproportionate.
The other controversial change is the proposed deletion of Section 65, which provides stricter penalties for rape of girls aged under 16 and 12.
The clause drawing the sharpest criticism from the Amit Shah-run Home Ministry is the one under Section 66, which seeks to make the death penalty mandatory in rape cases where the victim either dies or is left in a persistent vegetative state.
Within weeks after the rape and murder of a post-graduate trainee at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in 2024 August, the Mamata Govt came under severe attack due to the protests spilling on the streets in Kolkata and in rural Bengal,
The West Bengal Assembly passed the bill on September 3 in 2024.
A law student was gang-raped in the South Calcutta Law College in June 2025 against leaving the Mamata-led dispensation red-faced.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's intervention helps.
Govt/#BJP and #Opposition reach consensus ... #LokSabha to resume normally from July 28
The House may take up discussion on Operation Sindoor on Monday.
The Business Advisory Committee had already allocated 16 hours for detailed debate on Operation Sindoor
Friday, July 25th marks the fifth day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which has been witnessing protests by Opposition parties demanding a discussion on the revision of the voters’ list in Bihar.
On the first day, there was a shocking resignation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar in late evening hours. The ruling dispensation suggests a major constitutional crisis has been averted as the Chairman Rajya Sabha was almost in a confrontation stance with the Government on floor management vis-a-vis impeachment motion against a sitting judge.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla held a meeting with floor leaders on Friday and thus the deadlock has ended apparently.
"It was a good meeting and the Lower House will function smoothly from Monday," a source said.
"The government’s official stand is that there is no current plan or intention to reconsider or remove the words, 'socialism' and 'secularism' from the preamble of the constitution.
Any discussions regarding amendments to the preamble would require thorough deliberation and broad consensus, but as of now, the government has not initiated any formal process to change these provisions": Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal in a written reply.
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