The legislature of West Bengal, an Indian state, has passed a law providing for life imprisonment or hanging as possible punishments for those accused of rape.
Indian media reports that the penalty for sexual assault in West Bengal has been raised from 10 years to either life imprisonment or death sentence. The decision is made during continuing demonstrations regarding the assault and killing of a female physician in Kolkata.
The authorities have arrested a suspect named Sanjay Rai who is a volunteer with the police in this situation.
The female doctor, on night shift at a Kolkata hospital, took a break and rested in the lecturer’s hall for a while.
At 4 am, the suspect sexually assaulted and savagely killed a sleeping female doctor, leading to doctors going on strike and sparking protests across the country.
The President has not yet approved the law introduced by the West Bengal Assembly in response to the protesters’ request to execute the accused.
Regardless of the President’s approval, the state still has the authority to enact it as a law.
Currently, the new law in West Bengal is merely symbolic due to the uniform application of the Indian Penal Code nationwide.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, it is important to highlight that the country recorded an average of 90 instances of sexual assault daily in 2022, although the real figure could be significantly greater.
