Want Bengal govt to respond to Centre's queries on Aparajita Bill: Guv

Kolkata: A day after he sent the Aparajita Bill back to the West Bengal government, Governor CV Ananda Bose on Saturday said that he wanted the state administration to respond to the Centre’s objections to the legislation.

He also said the Bill was larger in its context and content, and thus required an examination from the President.

The West Bengalassembly had unanimously passed the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill nearly a month after the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024.

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West Bengal Aparajita bill sent back by gov over Centre’s concerns

“The Aparajita Bill was larger in its context and content. Therefore, I thought that it was something that required the examination of the President of India. Now, the Government of India (GoI) has raised certain queries, which I have asked the state government to answer. I want the state government to be fully involved in this,” he said.

Bose sent the Aparajita Bill back to the state government for consideration of the serious objections raised by the Centre over the proposed changes to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that the legislation seeks, a Raj Bhavan source had said on Friday.

According to the source, the Centre, in its observation, found that the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, passed in the assembly in September 2024, seeks changes in punishment for rape under multiple sections of the BNS that are “excessively harsh and disproportionate”, the source had said.

The Bill proposes enhancement of punishment for rape from the existing minimum of 10 years under the BNS to life imprisonment for the remainder of one’s life or death.

“There are three options before a governor. First is to give ascent to the Bill. Many Bills I had given ascent because these were very good in every respect, Constitutional within the law of the land.

“The second option is that the Bill can be sent back to the Assembly for reconsideration with certain suggestions, or without suggestions. Once passed by the Assembly, the Bill comes back to the Governor, and he has to give assent to the Bill. The third option is to refer it to the President of India,” Bose told reporters at the Raj Bhavan here.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had “flagged multiple provisions in the Bill as problematic”, the source had said.

“After taking note of the MHA observation, the Governor has referred those for appropriate consideration to the state government,” the source added.

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