R’sthan ‘gag’ Bill tabled in House

TNS & Agencies

Jaipur, October 23

Despite massive uproar by Opposition leaders, the Rajasthan Government today tabled in the Assembly a controversial Bill that seeks to protect public servants and judges from prosecution and bars the media from reporting on allegations against them without its prior sanction.

The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2017, was introduced in the Assembly by Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria to replace an ordinance promulgated on September 7. It seeks to shield both serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants in the BJP-ruled state from being investigated for on-duty action without the government’s approval.

As the move by the Vasundhara Raje government drew widespread criticism from various quarters, a BJP rebel MLA, Ghanshyam Tiwari, opposed the Bill. “This is a kala kanoon (black law) and I am against it,” Tiwari told reporters. “It is undemocratic and unconstitutional.”

In the Assembly, the opposition Congress strongly opposed the Bill and staged a walkout. Tiwari, who had expressed opposition to the ordinance, walked out of the Assembly twice when he was not allowed by the Speaker to raise a point of order. Wearing black strips on their mouth, Congress MLAs led by the Leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi took out a protest march from the MLA quarters to the Assembly. Holding placards and shouting slogans against Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, the MLAs entered the Assembly premises and accused the BJP government of patronising corruption.

Rameshwar Dudi later led a delegation to Governor Kalyan Singh and submitted a memorandum addressed to the President demanding the law be repealed.

Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot and several party leaders were briefly detained by the police in Jaipur soon after they took out a march against the legislative measure. They were later released. “We will not let the government pass the Bill,” Pilot said after being released.

The state government while defending the Bill said the measure was required to put an end to what it called an end to frivolous litigations against public servants. The only aim is that people do not misuse section 156(3) CrPC to tarnish the image of honest officers by levelling baseless allegations, a minister said. From 2013 to 2017, 73 pc of the people who were probed under section 156(3) faced mental harassment although they were not guilty, he said, citing a survey.

Activist moves high court, calls bill ‘arbitrary’

Activist and lawyer Bhagwat Gour has filed a petition in the Jaipur Bench of the High Court challenging the ordinance, calling it “arbitrary and mala fide”

The petitioner contends Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, is “in contravention of fundamental rights as enshrined under Part-III of the Constitution” 

The ordinance amends provisions of sections 156 and 190 of the CrPC and inserts Section 228-B in the IPC, the petition claims

While section 156 gives cops power to probe a “cognisable case”, section 190 deals with cognisance of offences by magistrates

By inserting the CrPC sections 156(3) and 190(1), protection from investigation for on-duty action “has been extended” to each and every public servant defined under any law

The public servants include panches, sarpanches, members or office-bearers of cooperative society, parliamentarians, MLAs, members of cooperation and employees of universities

Gaur says the ordinance is violative of Article 14 (equality before law), Article 19 (Freedom of Speech) and Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) 

Aim is to insulate honest officers: Law minister

New Delhi: Two Union ministers on Monday defended the Rajasthan Bill saying the move was aimed at insulating honest officers and prevent policy paralysis. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Bill was aimed at preventing motivated complaints. His junior minister PP Chaudhary said the idea was not to defend the corrupt or wrong-doers, but to ensure that honest judges, magistrates and public servants were not harassed. "What I have gathered is that the idea is that there should not be any motivated complaint. Officers were feeling harassed in discharging their duties," Prasad said here. PTI