Supreme Court lawyer files plea demanding urgent judicial intervention and CBI probe into brutal gangrape of 24-year-old in South Calcutta Law College.
The article critiques society’s desensitization to rape and the reactionary nature of legislative changes that follow high-profile cases of sexual violence. It highlights West Bengal’s “Aparajita Woman and Child Bill 2024,” which introduces the death penalty for rapists, as an example of this approach. The author argues that new laws aren’t the solution, pointing to the ineffectiveness of existing legislation due to poor enforcement and deeper societal issues like patriarchy and the objectification of women. The article calls for a shift from creating more laws to ensuring the proper implementation of existing ones, while addressing underlying misogyny to bring about real change.
On Thursday(5th September), West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose refused to sign the Aparajita Bill, an anti-rape legislation, citing the absence of a required technical report. Despite the bill being unanimously passed by both the government and opposition, the Governor’s office stated that the bill cannot proceed without this report.
The West Bengal assembly today unanimously passed the ‘Aparajita’ bill, making it the first state to amend central laws related to rape, gang-rape, and sexual crimes against children. The bill mandates the death penalty for those convicted of rape resulting in death or leaving the victim in a vegetative state. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dedicated it to a 31-year-old trainee doctor who was raped and murdered. She emphasized the need for social reforms to prevent such crimes and urged the opposition to ensure the bill’s quick implementation.
