Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 3 (ANI): 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…”
Meanwhile, NCP-SCP leader and former State Home Minister, Anil Deshmukh said, “…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…”
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.
Meanwhile, a similar kind of anti-rape bill named ‘Aparajita’ bill was tabled in the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday by the Mamata Banerjee government.
While tabling the bill in assembly CM Mamata Banerjee said, “…This bill will ensure that the harshest punishment is given for cases of harassment and rape of women. In this, the provisions of the POCSO Act have been further tightened… Death penalty has been provided for rapists if their acts result in the death of the victim or they suffer severe brain damage…”
“Under this, Aparajita Task Force will be formed, in which punishment will be given within 21 days of the preliminary report… I have already told the Health Secretary that the routes on which nurses and female doctors travel should be covered, for this, I have sanctioned Rs 120 crores,” she added. (ANI)
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