"123 Fast-Track Courts...": Centre Responds After Mamata Banerjee Flags Rapes
NDTV
In a sharp response to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she highlighted incidents of rape across India, the Centre has now flagged that Bengal has been allocated 123 fast-track courts to hear cases of rapes and child abuse, but many of them are not functional yet.
Under fire after a 31-year-old doctor was raped and murdered in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Ms Banerjee shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, demanding a tough central law to punish rapists. The Trinamool supremo highlighted in her letter that, according to available data, 90 rape cases occur in the country daily. And in many cases, the victims are murdered.
"It is horrifying to see this trend. It shakes the confidence and conscience of society and the nation. It is our bounden duty to put an end to it so that women feel safe and secure. Such a serious and sensitive issue needs to be addressed comprehensively through stringent central legislation that prescribes exemplary punishment for those involved in these dastardly crimes," she wrote, also proposing establishment of fast-track special courts to tackle such cases. "To ensure quick justice, trials should preferably be completed within 15 days," she suggested.
