"Pending in Delhi for three years": Anil Deshmukh criticises delay in assent of Shakti Bill

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 3 : In the wake of recent discussions surrounding anti-rape legislation in India, the NCP-SCP has intensified its protest against the prolonged delay in the assent of the Shakti Bill.
Anil Deshmukh, former State Home Minister and leader of the NCP-SCP criticised the inaction on the bill, which has been stalled for three years since its passage under the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Deshmukh highlighted that the bill, aimed at strengthening anti-rape laws, was submitted to the central government three years ago but has yet to receive approval.
"We passed the bill 3 years ago under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray's Maha Vikas Aghadi government and sent the bill to Delhi. For the last 3 years, the bill has been pending in Delhi. I have written to Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis as he is in power and so we can implement it in Maharashtra...If CM Eknath Shinde doesn't look into this matter we will protest at the Governor's house in the same manner," Deshmukh said.
Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) MP Supriya Sule, along with party workers, staged a protest against the Maharashtra government citing the delay in assent to the 'Shakti bill' passed by the Maharashtra legislature that prescribes the death penalty for rapists at the pedestal of Mahatma Gandhi's statue near the state secretariat on Tuesday.

Sule was seen participating in the protest along with the majority of women workers with placards in their hands and raising slogans against the government.

While speaking to the media Supriya Sule said, "When Uddhav Thackeray's Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power, Anil Deshmukh brought the Shakti Bill and sent it to Delhi, but then there was the Modi government, they did nothing, today there is NDA government but unfortunately, they also did nothing... We will hold a meeting with the leaders of INDIA alliance and will meet the Home Minister of this country and request him to bring this bill..."

Notably, a nationwide protest had erupted demanding stringent laws for women's safety after a trainee doctor was raped and murdered in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

A similar kind of anti-rape bill named 'Aparajita' bill was tabled in the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday by the Mamata Banerjee government.