Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Monday told the state Assembly that her government was withdrawing the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2017, The Indian Express reported. The Ordinance had automatically lapsed on December 4, six weeks after the bill was tabled in the Assembly.
The controversial bill proposed banning courts from taking up cases against serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants without government sanction. It also proposed to ban the media from naming the public servant involved in such cases until the government allowed it to be investigated.
Governor Kalyan Singh had promulgated the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance on September 6, 2017. The state government then tabled a bill to replace the Ordinance on October 23.
After the Opposition, journalists, lawyers, and even some BJP leaders protested, the state had referred the bill to a Select Committee in the Assembly in October 2017. The Select Committee was to submit its report on the bill during the state’s budget session, which began on February 5. It was given an extension after it asked for more time.
On Monday, Raje told the Assembly, “We sent the bill to the Select Committee, we let the ordinance lapse and today it is not law, what should we withdraw?” She added, “But we are still withdrawing it.”
State Congress President Sachin Pilot said the bill should have been withdrawn “a long time ago”. “Rajasthan’s image has gone down because of the stubborn attitude of this government in not shelving the bill immediately after the ordinance lapsed,” Pilot said on Monday, the Hindustan Times reported. “The chief minister must explain why the bill was sent to the select committee, and why the ordinance was promulgated in the first place.”
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