• Source:JND
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The Union Women and Child Development Minister, Annapurna Devi responded to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's letter on Friday and stressed that existing laws were stringent enough to tackle violence and crimes against women and urged the West Bengal government to implement the same in "letter and spirit".

"The information contained in your letter in this regard is factually incorrect and appears to be a step in the direction to cover up the delays in operationalising the FTSCs by the State," wrote Devi responding to Mamata Banerjee and urged the West Bengal government to implement the same in "letter and spirit."

Mamata Banerjee on Friday wrote a second letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the RG Kar rape and murder case and requested for stringent central legislation and exemplary punishment on heinous crimes like rape and murder.

This was the second letter from Mamata Banerjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier, Banerjee, in her letter for stringent central legislation and exemplary punishment on heinous crimes like rape and murder.

"With regard to the information contained in your letter about the status of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) and exclusive POCSO Courts in West Bengal, I may mention that according to information received from the Calcutta High Court, West Bengal has established 88 Fast Track Courts (FTCs), which are not the same as the Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) covered under the Central Government Scheme as referred in my earlier D.O. letter dated 25.08.2024," Devi added in the letter.

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She also highlighted that Bengal has not operationalized additional fast-track special courts to deal with rape and POCSO cases, despite having 48,600 pending cases. 

She said in the event of an insufficient workforce, states and Union Territories have the option to engage judicial officers and court staff on a contractual basis under the FTSC scheme.

"As regards, stringent legislations and exemplary punishment on heinous crimes like rape/rape and murder, I reiterate my earlier communication conveying that stringent punishments for rape/rape with murder already exist in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)," the minister said.

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