Bengal govt will amend existing laws to ensure death penalty to rapists: Mamata

Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapistsBanerjee said that she would sit for dharna outside Raj Bhavan here if the governor delays in giving assent to the amended bill or forwards it to the President for ratificationThe chief minister also said that the TMC will launch a movement from Saturday at the states grassroots to create pressure on the Centre to pass legislation for capital punishment of convicted rapistsWe will pass the amended bill in a special session of the assembly next week We will then send it to the governor for his nod We will stage dharna outside Raj Bhavan if he sits on the bill she thundered from the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad foundation day rally hereThe TMC supremo dedicated the foundation day to the memory of the medic who was allegedly raped and murdered inside staterun R G Kar Medical College and Hospital earlier this month triggering a nationwide outcryBanerjee also dedicated the occasion to the victims of atrocities and abuse across the countryShe also flagged the issue of the sexual misconduct allegations levelled by a former Raj Bhavan woman staffer and accused C V Ananda Bose of making false charges against her government and partyBanerjee also urged the agitating junior doctors of Bengal who have struck work for 20 days now to urgently consider returning to dutyI have remained sympathetic towards the cause of the doctors from the very beginning since they were seeking justice for their colleague We did not take any action against them although so many days have passed since the incident We understand your pain But please come back to work now since patients are suffering she appealedThe police recovered the body of the womans postgraduate trainee doctor from the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9The junior doctors of staterun hospitals have been on cease work since that evening demanding justice for the victim and strong security measures in hospitalsBanerjee added no FIR was lodged against any doctor so far as she does not want that a medics career to plagued by police casesSixteen days have passed since the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the doctors rapemurder probe from the Kolkata Police Where is the justice We want the CBI to come up with investigation updates she saidDenouncing the BJP for calling a 12hour general strike on Wednesday Banerjee said They called the bandh since they wanted political dividends over a dead body The BJP is trying to exploit the emotions of ordinary people in the wake of the death of the young womanThey want to malign Bengal and plotted a conspiracy to derail the probe into her death If Bengal is set on fire Assam northeast Uttar Pradesh Bihar Jharkhand Odisha and Delhi will also be affected You Prime Minister Naerndra Modi will feel the jolt the TMC chief saidShe also said that the Bombay High Court recently restrained political parties or individuals from proceeding with a Maharashtra bandhOn the demand for her resignation in the wake of the RG Kar hospital incident she said I will ask BJP why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not resign owning up to his failure to prevent atrocities and sexual attacks on women in Uttar Pradesh Assam Madhya Pradesh Manipur and Assam I ask why only an accused was killed in an encounter in Assam The BJP is making such demands as it has suffered a string of defeats in elections and knows that it wont be able to win in future Banerjee saidBuses with TMCP supporters on board were attacked Several trains were delayed From railways to CBI and ED everything is being controlled by partisan BJP she saidThe TMC boss also alleged that the BJP was indulging in largescale cyber crimes using AI causing social unrestOn the march to state secretariat Nabanna on Tuesday the chief minister said Police acted in restraint despite provocations of BJPbacked outfits who wanted protestors dead in police action Despite suffering physical injuries from the attacks on them police personnel did not fall prey to provocationsShe said every attacker will be identified and action takenBanerjee said she had earlier espoused the slogan badla noy badal chai we want change not revenge the time has come to change that Now we say resist and protest whenever you are insulted whenever you face ugly attack dont take it lying downAlleging that the BJP has hatched a conspiracy to stall Durga Puja festivities in Bengal she said that poor people wait for the puja for economic reasonsAbout the comparison between the uprising in Bangladesh and the public outcry following the RG Kar hospital incident Banerjee said the situations are differentWe people in West Bengal and Bangladesh speak the same language and share similar food and it ends there she saidThe CM said that on August 31 the TMC student wing will demand capital punishment for convicted rapists in every college It will be followed up the next by holding dharnas in every block of the stateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever