Ruling party acts to draw political mileage from capital punishment for rape bill Opposition calls it misleading and insensitive - Hindustan Times
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Ruling party acts to draw political mileage from capital punishment for rape bill Opposition calls it misleading and insensitive

Ranjan, Hindustan Times, Bhopal | By
Dec 14, 2017 08:49 PM IST

The bill aims at amending Indian Penal Code (IPC) to award from a minimum life sentence to capital punishment to a convict who is involved in rape with a girl of 12 years and below. It also has a provision in it for a harsher punishment for a stalker.

Opposition finds it misleading and insensitive yet the ruling party intends to go whole hog to draw a political mileage in view of 2018 assembly elections from the state government’s capital punishment for rape bill passed in the state assembly during its winter session more than a week back.

(HT file photo)
(HT file photo)

The bill aims at amending Indian Penal Code (IPC) to award from a minimum life sentence to capital punishment to a convict who is involved in rape with a girl of 12 years and below. It also has a provision in it for a harsher punishment for a stalker.

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State BJP leadership has asked its cadre to propagate the government’s act in introducing the bill at the grassroots level while chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be feted for his step at a function at the state capital on Thursday, two days ahead of Nirbhaya gang rape anniversary, by several organisations under the aegis of the BJP.

Addressing the party’s women wing leaders a few days back the state BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan said, “There is no one in the country like Shivraj Singh Chouhan who has taken so many steps for women empowerment. We have to propagate the historic decision on capital punishment to rapist among people.”

Chauhan didn’t forget to mention the BJP’s ambitious ‘Abki baar 200 paar’ plan in context of 2018 assembly elections and made an appeal to party leaders to work for it vigorously.

“The BJP’s decision to take a credit for the bill and fete the CM is misleading and insensitive. First, they have no qualms in drawing a political mileage from rape of women in society for their political gains and second, they are doing all this despite knowing full well that the bill cannot lead to an amendment in the IPC on serious offences like rape as it’s beyond the purview of a state”, said Pankaj Chaturvedi, state Congress spokesperson talking to the Hindustan Times.

Leader Opposition in the state assembly Ajay Singh raised a question against felicitation saying the bill was yet to get President’s assent.

Though the Congress supported the bill in the assembly out of political compulsions so that it is not projected as anti-women by the ruling party, the party MLAs including the leader Opposition also expressed concern that such a bill, if it leads to an amendment in the IPC, may drive a rapist to kill the victim in order to obliterate the evidence.

Madhya Pradesh once again topped the crime chart on rape incidents in the country as per the latest National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB)’s statistics for 2016 to underline Madhya Pradesh as one of the most unsafe states in the country for women. The ruling party feels a harsher punishment to rapist will check effectively crimes against women.

Recently, reacting upon the NCRB report for the year 2016 Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted, “Ground reality of security of women in Madhya Pradesh- highly shameful. 4882 rape cases in 2016, Madhya Pradesh no. 1 again in rape incidents.”

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