• Source:JND
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Responding sharply to the letter of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in which she highlighted cases of rape across India, the Centre showed the mirror to the state government, saying that Bengal was allocated 123 fast-track courts to hear cases of rape and child abuse but many of them are not yet functional.

Facing ire over the mishandling of the brutal rape and murder of 31-year-old Medico at state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, CM Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to the centre last week over the high rate of rapes across the country. She also demanded centre make stringent laws to deal with such cases.

In her letter to PM Modi, Mamata said that 90 rape cases take place every day in the country 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 the establishment of fast-track special courts to tackle such cases. "To ensure quick justice, trials should preferably be completed within 15 days," she had suggested.

Centre Hits back 

Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Annpurna Devi, has now written back to Banerjee in response to her letter to the Prime Minister. Starting her letter with condolences to the family of the Kolkata rape-murder victim, she said that Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita enacted last month "comprehensively addresses the issues of crimes against women by providing stringent punishments".

Hitting back at the Chief Minister, the Union Minister highlighted the precarious conditions of the allotment of fast-track courts to the state.

"As of 30.06.2024, 752 FTSCs including 409 exclusive POCSO Courts are functional in 30 States/UTs which have disposed of more than 2,53,000 cases since the inception of the scheme. Under the scheme, the State of West Bengal was allocated a total of 123 FTSCs, which included 20 exclusive POCSO Courts and 103 combined FTSCs dealing with both rape and POCSO Act cases. However, none of these courts had been operationalized till mid-June, 2023," the minister added.

The State of West Bengal communicated its willingness to participate in the Scheme vide letter dated 08.06.2023, committing to start 7 FTSCs. Under the revised target, West Bengal has been allocated 17 FTSCs, of which only 6 exclusive POCSO Courts have been operationalized as of 30.06 2024. In spite of a pendency of 48,600 rape and POCSO cases in West Bengal, the State Government has not taken any steps to start the remaining 11 FTSCS. Action in this regard is pending with the state government," she added.

"Recognising the need for Helplines as first responders in the golden hour to a woman or child in distress, Women Helpline (WHL) 181, Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) -112, Child Helpline 1098, Cyber Crime Helpline - 1930 have been put in place in the last few years. The WHL and Child Helplines have been integrated with ERSS also. But, unfortunately, the people of the State of West Bengal cannot utilize this facility as the State Government has not implemented the WHL despite many requests and reminders from Gol," she said.