• By Kamal Kumar
  • Fri, 30 Aug 2024 02:14 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

After her first letter, demanding stringent central legislation against rape cases, received a sharp rebuttal from the centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday sent another letter addressed to Prime Minister Modi, saying she did not receive any reply from the PM's end on such a 'sensitive issue'. The 'letter war' was triggered in the wake of ongoing protests against the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar medical college in the state.

Alleging that the 'seriousness of the subject and its relevance to the society have not been adequately appreciated' in the earlier reply given by Minister of Women and Child Development Annpurna Devi, CM Mamata Banerjee listed the steps taken by the state government for the safety of women and justice to the victims.

She alleged that the centre's reply chose to overlook several initiatives taken by the state. "Regarding Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), 10 exclusive POCSO Courts have been approved by the State Government. In addition to this, 88 FTSCs and 62 POCSO designated Courts are functioning throughout the State on complete State funding. Monitoring and disposal of cases is completely in the hands of the Courts," CM Mamata said.

She further placed the onus of filling the vacancies in fast-track courts on the Union government.

"As per Central Government guidelines, only retired Judicial Officers can be posted as Presiding Officers in FTSCs but Hon'ble High Court has observed that given the severity of the cases, permanent Judicial Officers need to be posted. This requires examination at the level of Government of India and suitable action thereafter, for which your intervention would be necessary," the letter stated.

Urging the Centre to bring legislation for exemplary punishment to the rape convicts, Mamata added that the emergency helpline numbers such as 112 and 1098 are satisfactorily working in the state. In addition, Dial 100 is also extensively used in emergency situations, she said.

Centre's Sharp Response On Earlier Letter

Responding strongly to her earlier letter, Union Minister Annpurna Devi had flagged several lacunae in the state government's handling of the fast track courts and the emergency helplines in West Bengal. The Minister has said that Bengal was allocated 123 fast-track courts to hear cases of rape and child abuse but many of them are not yet functional.