“It’s 2017, not 1817”: this is how Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi responded on Sunday to an Ordinance passed by the Rajasthan government to block cases against public servants. He made the statement on Twitter, addressing Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in his post.
“Madam chief minister, with all humility, we are in the 21st century,” he said. “It’s 2017, not 1817.”
The controversial Ordinance bars courts from taking up cases against legislators, ministers and officials without the government’s sanction. It also bans the media from naming public servants involved in cases under investigation.
Rajasthan made the changes to the Criminal Procedure Code on September 7. The Ordinance covers private complaints against a public servant’s official work. Former public servants are also eligible for protection under this amendment.
The Rajasthan Assembly is expected to approve the Ordinance on Monday. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which governs the state, has 162 of the 200 seats in the House.
Under the Ordinance, the government gets 60 days to decide whether a court should hear a matter against a public servant. “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,” the Ordinance states.
Gandhi has lately made a string of witty and sarcastic remarks in his tweets, most notably in response to favourable comments about Pakistan from the United States, and another after the Bharatiya Janata Party showed discomfort with certain scenes in a Tamil film.
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