Bill to Protect Judges, Babus from Probe Tabled in Rajasthan Assembly, PIL Filed in HC

NEW DELHI:
The Rajasthan government tabled in the assembly on Monday a controversial bill that shielded public servants from prosecution without prior approval amid protests over the piece of legislation that has already been legally challenged.
A lawyer filed a public interest litigation in the Rajasthan high court on Monday morning against the bill, which bars courts from taking up private complaints against public servants, such as serving and former judges, lawmakers, ministers and officials, without the government’s sanction.
The media is also barred from naming an accused till the government gives its nod for investigation. Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, was promulgated on September 7.
“The intent of the government is blatantly clear; they are trying to institutionalise corruption and intimidating anyone who questions government,” said Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot. The Congress has announced protest marches against the bill.
Activists have also opposed the bill that seeks to “protect both serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants in Rajasthan” from being investigated for on-duty action without its prior sanction, saying it muzzles free speech.
“What is the government trying to hide from the public? The PUCL demands that the Government repeal this ordinance. The PUCL will challenge this ordinance in the Rajasthan High Court,” said Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of civil rights group People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
The ordinance, which provides 180 days immunity to the officers, reads, “No magistrate shall order an investigation nor will any investigation be conducted against a person, who is or was a judge or a magistrate or a public servant.”
If there is no decision on the sanction request post the stipulated time period, it will automatically mean that sanction has been granted. The ordinance amends the Criminal Code of Procedure, 1973 and also seeks curb on publishing and printing or publicising in any case the name, address, photograph, family details of the public servants.
The Editors Guild of India has has asked the Rajasthan government to “withdraw the harmful ordinance” that bars the media from reporting on accusations against public servants, judges and magistrates without its sanction.
The ordinance is a “pernicious instrument” to harass the media, the Guild said in a statement last night.
“The ordinance promulgated by the state government last month was ostensibly done to protect the judiciary and the bureaucracy against false FIRs.
“But in reality it is a pernicious instrument to harass the media, hide wrongful acts by government servants and drastically curb the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Constitution of India,” it said.
The Rajasthan government had last month promulgated The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, that seeks to protect serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants in the state from being investigated for on-duty action, without its prior sanction.
It bars the media from reporting on such accusations till the sanction to proceed with the probe is given by the government. Rather than taking stern measures to prevent and punish those who indulge in frivolous or false litigations, the Rajasthan government has passed an ordinance that is bent on “bludgeoning the messenger”, the Guild said.
While the Guild has always stood for fair, balanced and responsible reporting of FIRs filed in courts of law, it believes that the remedy being employed by the government is “draconian” and gives it “untrammelled power” to even imprison journalists for reporting matters of public interest.
“The Guild requests the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to withdraw the harmful ordinance and prevent any Act from being passed that would endanger the freedom of the press,” it said.