Mamata Banerjee on Friday sent a second letter to Narendra Modi, intensifying her call for sterner legislation by the Centre against sexual crimes.

The chief minister’s new letter comes four days ahead of the Bengal Assembly’s likely passing of a “stringent” anti-rape legislation.

In the letter — the second on this since August 22 — Mamata reiterated the need for stringent central legislation on incidents of rape and exemplary punishment for such crimes.

“No reply was received from your end on such a sensitive issue. However, a reply has been received from the (Union) minister of women and child development… which barely attends the gravity of the issue raised in my letter,” she wrote, referring to the August 25 response by Annapurna Devi.

“I would reiterate and earnestly request to kindly consider a stringent central legislation and exemplary punishment on heinous crimes of rape/rape and murder with mandatory provision for disposal of cases in a specific time-frame by the trial authorities,” read the letter.

The Trinamul Congress dispensation has been under tremendous pressure since its alleged mishandling of the rape and murder of the junior doctor on August 9. In her counteroffensive peppered with whataboutery, Mamata has been demanding answers on the BJP’s track record concerning such offences or their perpetrators in states under their command, which has found few takers even within the Trinamul ecosystem.

“I hope this matter would receive a very considered attention at your kind end in the interest of our society at large,” added the Trinamul chief.

In the August 25 response, Devi had argued that the existing laws are adequate and underscored that Bengal was yet to open 11 of the 17 fast-track courts sanctioned for the state under a centrally funded scheme.

Mamata, in her Friday letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wrote: “I am of the thought that the seriousness of the subject and its relevance to the society have not been adequately appreciated while sending out this generic reply.”

She went on to refer to some of the initiatives that Bengal has already taken, which she said appeared to have been overlooked in Devi’s reply. Regarding fast-track special courts (FTSCs), Mamata wrote that 10 exclusive Pocso courts were approved by her government, in addition to 88 FTSCs and 62 Pocso-designated courts — monitoring and disposal of cases is completely in the hands of the courts — that have been functioning in Bengal on complete state funding.

“As per central government guidelines, only retired judicial officers can be posted as presiding officers in FTSCs but Hon’ble High Court has observed that in view of the severity of the cases, permanent judicial officers need to be posted,” wrote Mamata.

“This requires examination at the level of government of India and suitable action thereafter, for which your intervention would be necessary,” she added.

The BJP jeered at Mamata over the letter. The party’s state general secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay accused Mamata of mellowing her demand since August 22.

“On August 22, she had written to the Prime Minister and said that in cases of rape and murder, the trial must be completed within 15 days. On August 30, she wrote another letter and said the trial process must be completed in a “specific time-frame”. In seven days, the 15-day deadline turned into a specific time-frame,” said Chattopadhyay in a statement, adding that Mamata couldn’t furnish any proper answer to the points raised by Devi.

“Resignation is your ultimate destiny,” he added.

PUCL

Later in the day, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) condemned Mamata’s proposal for the death penalty for convicted rapists.

“The PUCL is of the concerted opinion that is a cynical and politically motivated attempt by Mamata Banerjee to deflect attention from the negligence and criminal culpability of her government in the rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee medic while she was on duty,” read the statement.

“Instead of taking concrete steps to ensure security of women doctors and ensure that there is a fair investigation into the heinous incident, the government has instead gone for this headline-grabbing move rife with serious implications for human rights,” it added. The PUCL believes there is little empirical justification for the proposition that the death penalty for rape has resulted in deterrence of the crime of rape, and the justification of the death penalty is only retributive.

“By proposing the reinstatement of the death penalty, the Mamta Banerjee government is taking a step backward as far as human rights in India is concerned,” it wrote.

“We demand that the (Bengal) government address the pressing injustice done to the trainee doctor and take measures to make the life of other trainee doctors
more safe, instead of compounding its criminal irresponsibility through introducing the death penalty,” added the PUCL.