Clear Shakti bill to ensure punishment for crime against women: Deshmukh

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday demanded the clearance and implementation of the Shakti bill with provisions for the death penalty for atrocities against children and women, referring to the Badlapur school incident.

Both the House of Maharashtra legislature had passed the Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Special Court & Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law, 2020, three years ago when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was in power.

Addressing a press conference, Deshmukh said, When I was the home minister, I had formed a 21-member committee of legislators from all parties to draft the Shakti bill on the lines of an act in Andhra Pradesh.

The bill was approved by the cabinet headed by Uddhav Thackeray and passed in the state legislature. It is pending before the Central government for approval.

The NCP (SP) leader said the committee had drafted the Shakti bill after consultations with all stakeholders.

He said a Shakti Act would be sufficient to ensure the death penalty for the culprit in the Badlapur case, he said.

Alleged sexual abuse of two young girls at a school in Badlapur in Thane district has triggered an uproar and a slugfest between the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition bloc MVA.

The ex-home minister said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the Badlapur incident should look into the reason behind the 12-13 hour delay in the registration of the FIR.

He said the SIT should also try to uncover if the delay happened because the school management is close to a BJP leader.

Shiv Sena (UBT) member of Rajya Sabha Priyanka Chaturvedi said on Monday that she had written to President Droupadi Murmu for her speedy assent to the two bills.