Mamata's rape compensation plan strange: Cong

Kolkata: The Congress on Monday rapped the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government, in which it itself is a partner, for the "peculiar" and "strange" idea of compensating rape victims rather than ensuring proper law and order situation in the state.

The Mamata Banerjee-Cabinet last week ratified the proposal that victims of rape and woman trafficking would be compensated by the state government.

"I don't feel that this strange and peculiar decision to compensate rape victims would solve the problem. The government should ensure rule of law in the state so that such things don't happen," said state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya.

"Rather than compensation, what is needed to stop incidents of rape is stringent punishment so that nobody dares to rape a woman. But what we are witnessing is shameful. The state government is denying every incident and terming it as 'cooked up' case," he said.

Bhattacharya requested the state government to convene an all-party meeting so that the issue of worsening law and order could be discussed.

As per the government decision, in case of loss of life, the nearest kin of the woman victim would get Rs 2 lakh. An amount of Rs 50,000 would be given for loss of limb or part of body leading to a handicap of 80 per cent or more.

In case the victim loses limb or part of a body resulting in a handicap between 40 per cent to 80 per cent, the compensation amount would also be Rs 50,000.

Rs 10,000 would be given for loss of limb or body part resulting in a handicap below 40 per cent, while minor rape victims would get compensation of Rs 30,000 and adults Rs 20,000. Women and minor victims of trafficking would be given Rs10,000.

Bhattacharya also criticised the state government for failing to tackle the menace of dengue in the state, which has already claimed five lives.

"What is the state government doing to tackle this problem of dengue? So many people have died, thousands of people are suffering. The state government is more busy in suppressing the figures rather than tackling the problem," he said.