Rajasthan govt. will jail journalists if they write about public servants before prosecution sanction

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Raheem Khan, IndiaTomorrow.net,
Jaipur, Oct 21: The Rajasthan government of BJP has promulgated an ordinance through which a journalist or anyone will be jailed for two years if they disclosed name and other details of a public servant whose prosecution has not been sanctioned by competent authority.

The ordinance has also barred magistrates from ordering an investigation against such public servants before the prosecution sanction. The Vasundhara Raje government has fixed a maximum period of 180 days for competent authority to sanction prosecution, after which the sanction would be deemed issued.

The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 was made and promulgated by Governor Kalyan Singh on 6th Sep 2017 and it is reportedly going to be presented in the Assembly for approval this coming Monday.

The ordinance is to amend Section 156 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and Indian Penal Code, 1860 in its application to the state of Rajasthan.

“No one shall print or publish or publicize in any manner the name, address, photograph, family details or any other particulars which may lead to disclosure of identity of a Judge or Magistrate or a public servant against whom any proceeding under this section is pending, until the sanction as aforesaid has been or deemed to have been issued,” reads the ordinance.

If anyone did so, he or she could be jailed for two years.

“Whoever contravenes the provisions of fourth proviso of sub-section (3) of section 156, and fourth proviso of sub-section (1) of section 190, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine.”

The ordinance has also barred magistrates from ordering probe against government officials before prosecution is sanctioned against them.

“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, as defined under any other law for the time being in force, in respect of the act done by them while acting or purporting to act in discharge of their official duties,” reads the ordinance.

According to the ordinance, sanctioning authority shall ordinarily take a decision within 180 days from the date of the receipt of the proposal for sanction. If the sanctioning authority fails to issue prosecution sanction within this period, the prosecution sanction under section shall be deemed to have been issued.

The new measure is aimed to protect both sitting and former judges, magistrates and other public servants from probe before prosecution sanction.

The Rajasthan Congress alleged that the move by the Vasundhara Raje government is an attempt to cover its tracks. The government is completing its term in 2018.

“Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje wants to institutionalise corruption that has been a hallmark of her regime for four years,” Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Congress president, has been quoted as saying by NDTV.

He also denounced gag on media for reporting about such officials.

He said “a draconian law is made only to protect the interest of corrupt individual.”

PUCL said the move is to abridge the fundamental right of speech and expression.

The ordinance is “a sinister attempt of the Government of Rajasthan to abridge the fundamental right of speech and expression guaranteed under the Indian Constitution and to thwart the citizens right to access criminal justice system in cases of complaints against abuse of law by public servants…” said the civil rights group in a statement.

However, the state government said the new law means to protect the reputations of the officials.

Rajendra Rathore, Rajasthan’s parliamentary affairs minister, said the new law was a response to a flood of “false allegations against public servants to demoralise them.”

“People were filing false cases against public servants and that is the reason we have brought this law,” the news channel quoted him as saying.

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