The Rajasthan government has buckled under pressure and sent the controversial gag-bill to the Select Committee after facing criticism from various quarters.
The Rajasthan government has buckled under pressure and sent the controversial gag-bill to the Select Committee after facing criticism from various quarters.
The development comes after Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje reportedly asked the state ministers to rethink over the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017.
Raje had reportedly called a meeting at her residence, which was attended by Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajendra Rathore, BJP State President Ashok Parnami, Yunus Khan and Arun Chaturvedi.
Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria will head the Select Committee comprising 15 members.
The government had on Monday tabled a controversial bill that seeks to protect public servants and judges from prosecution and bar the media from reporting on allegations against them without its prior sanction sparking a legal challenge and protests inside and outside the Assembly.
The Centre has defended the bill with Union Minister for law and justice PP Chaudhury saying it was a 'balanced' measure keeping interests of everyone in mind.
Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot has said that the party will not let the government pass the bill. "We are strongly opposing it
Meanwhile, the bill has been challenged in the High Court. Senior advocate AK Jain informed that he has filed a writ against the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017.
The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, promulgated on September 7, also seeks to bar the media from reporting on accusations till the sanction to proceed with the probe is obtained.
"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," reads the ordinance which provides 180 days immunity to the officers.
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.
Violating the clause would call for two years imprisonment.
In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, BJP has 160 MLAs while the Congress has 24 members.
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.
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