Vasundhara government’s shocker: Ban media reporting accusations involving judges, officers

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In a shocking development, the Rajasthan government headed by Vasundhara Raje Scindia has issued an ordinance banning media reporting on accusations involving judges and senior officers in her government without obtaining prior permission.

file photo- BJP MLA

The ordinance also made the public servants immune from being prosecuted for the crimes they may have committed while in office. In effect the government has made itself immune against any probe.

The ordinance said, “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.”

On media ban, the ordinance said, “Provided also that 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 a 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.”

The government will have six months to decide if allegations against a public servant is worth probing. If the state government does not get back to the court with its approval within six months, it will be deemed to have given its sanction.

Reacting to the development, Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav wrote, “No probe. No reporting.
Total immunity to netas and babus. Is the @VasundharaBJP govt already preparing for its departure?”

The assembly elections in Rajasthan are due in 2018 and analysts believe that the latest ordinance had been passed by Scindia fearing her defeat.

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