New WB Bill is all about politics

The real import of the new anti-rape Bill cleared by the West Bengal (WB) assembly on Tuesday doesn’t lie in the stringent provisions of the proposed law, but instead in the political posturing that it allows. Battling intense criticism over its fumbles in the handling of the grisly rape-murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata last month, the state government introduced the so-called Aparajita (the undefeated) Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill, 2024 that calls for the death penalty for anyone convicted of rape and gang-rape if the victim dies or is left in a vegetative state. Additionally, it stipulates a life sentence without parole for those convicted of rape.

Politically, the Bill makes sense. The WB government has struggled to allay mounting public anger over the crime that has sparked protests in Kolkata on a scale not seen in decades. Every new allegation of ineptitude in the case hurts the government’s credibility, and threatens to erode chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s standing among women constituents. Against this backdrop, the Bill allows Ms Banerjee to take a strong stand on crimes against women, reinforce her credentials as the chief custodian of West Bengal and lets her take potshots at the BJP over similar gruesome crimes in other states. It forces the Opposition to fall in line with the government or run the risk of being seen as anti-women — this is why the draft legislation received unanimous approval from the assembly. And it sets the stage for a protracted face-off between the state government and the governor, who is likely to ask for presidential assent on the Bill since it potentially has a conflict with the central law. If precedent is any guide — in 2019, Andhra Pradesh passed a Bill mandating stricter punishments for certain crimes against women, and in 2020, Maharashtra also enhanced punishments for crimes against women, but neither have received presidential approval — then the political battle over the Bill will be long and bitter.

Its impact on the ground, however, might be more muted. Crimes against women flourish due to a toxic cocktail of social impunity, lax implementation of laws, and administrative apathy. Laws to prosecute such crimes already exist. What is needed is their impartial and consistent implementation. Any modification must be done with wide consultation and careful deliberation. Difficult reform and honest appraisal are what is needed, not shortcuts to bypass the judicial process of deliberation. The absence of this initiative blunted the impact of the reforms after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape. That reckoning needs to happen, and fast.

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