West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday sought to silence her critics by maintaining that her government was “proactive” in punishing those accused of crimes against women.

Banerjee had over the last few days been under-fire from various quarters that included her political opponents and members of the civil society for a rise in crime against women in the State.

Since reports of the rape and murder of college girl surfaced, the Trinamool-led government had been under pressure. Civil society members had recently taken out a procession in Kolkata demanding strict against perpetrators and government intervention to tackle such incidents.

Speaking about three recent instances, Banerjee said that her government was “proactive” in taking action against the perpetrators.

“We have ensured faster filing of charge-sheet and fast-tracked proceedings in many cases. These are examples of good governance,” Banerjee said at a public meeting at North 24-Parganas.

Calling the rape and murder of a college girl in Barasaat as a “sad incident”, Banerjee said that her government would seek “death penalty” for the accused.

Panchayat Polls

Banerjee also accused her political opponents of conspiring against the government to see that the panchayat polls were not held.

“We have the support of the people and the other parties know it. They are trying to stall the rural polls. But we will not let that happen,” Banerjee, said.

According to Banerjee, her government was in favour of holding elections during the winter but has been forced to hold them in the monsoons as per directions from the Calcutta High Court and the State Election Commission.

> abhishek.l@thehindu.co.in

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