Aparajita Bill is a knee-jerk response, say experts, while victims’ parents decry fewer night working hours for women

Legal experts criticise West Bengal's Aparajita Bill, prescribing death penalty for rape, as a knee-jerk reaction to crime.

Emphasising that stricter punishment does not act as a deterrent and reduce the rate of crime, legal experts have termed the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, which prescribes the death penalty for almost all kinds of rape, a “knee-jerk reaction” to the gruesome rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH).

The Bill, which was unanimously passed in the State Assembly on Tuesday, proposes amendments to five offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS), and has the provision of the death penalty for five offences — rape, rape by a police officer or public servant, rape causing death or sending victim to persistent vegetative state, gang rape, and being a repeat offender.

The legislation, which came 25 days after the RGKMCH incident, proposes amendments to the BNS and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023; requires the constitution of the Aparajita Task Force for investigation; and the establishment of special courts to hold trials for such offences.

Former Supreme Court Judge Asok Kumar Ganguly said there had been empirical studies to prove that stricter punishment did not reduce the rate of incidence of crime. Justice (retd) Ganguly said that there were stringent laws already in place and they had to be implemented properly.

Though the State government was within its rights to bring amendments in criminal laws, which fall under the Concurrent List, Justice Ganguly said that the legislation could not take away the right of pardon and commutation of sentence under Article 72 and Article 161 of the Constitution, under which the President and Governor could grant pardon. “This legislation is a knee-jerk reaction,” he said.

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the senior advocate representing the family of the victim, said that conviction in any crime depended on the investigation, and in this case, allegations of a compromised investigation by the police had been raised.

“It is a knee-jerk reaction. Death penalty is no penalty and it serves as no deterrent. The penalty should be for reformation of a person,” Mr. Bhattacharya said. The advocate said human life is very valuable and awarding the death penalty was a colonial practice that should be done away with it.