Rajasthan's gag order

State govt's Ordinance militates against BJP's anti-corruption promise

The Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party government (BJP) in Rajasthan intends to bring in a piece of legislation that will prohibit investigation without sanction against “a Judge or a Magistrate or a public servant” for any “act done by them while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of their official duties”. The state government has already passed an Ordinance to this effect and the new Bill will regularise it into an Act during the fresh session of the Assembly, which will start on Monday. The existing Ordinance has made two key changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The first dilutes the powers of a magistrate to order an investigation against public servants. The second change empowers the sanctioning authorities to take as many as six months to decide whether to allow an investigation or not.

This is not all. The Ordinance, and the new Bill that is likely to replace it, prevent the media from reporting on such matters. This implies that the press is not free to report any information about any allegations that may be made against a public official unless and until the sanctioning authority has given the go-ahead for investigations. Taken together, these provisions segregate power wielders from those who don’t in instances of corruption, which is a direct violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, which states that everyone is equal in front of the law. Giving teeth to this over-arching gag order is the introduction of a punitive provision which states that those who violate the new legal order — say, a journalist reporting on some episode of corruption or malfeasance by a public official — could face up to two years of imprisonment along with a possible fine. It is understandable why everyone outside the government is outraged by the Ordinance. Legal luminaries are united in their opinion that the Ordinance is blatantly “illegal” and against the Constitution of the country. Civil society members too are up in arms; in fact, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is expected to challenge the Ordinance in the Rajasthan High Court on Monday. Their apprehension is that the government is trying to nip in the bud any possibility of investigation even in cases where there is clinching evidence prima facie.

For its part, the government has come across as confused yet defiant. First, the state’s home minister feigned ignorance of the amendments. Later, another Cabinet minister, as well as an official statement by the government, sought to justify the move on the grounds that it would stop the “reckless” abuse of Section 156 (3) of CrPC, which allows investigations against public officials, as a result of which the “official’s image suffers a blow” especially if the matter gets reported in the media. Supporting its stand, the government has shared that 73 per cent of the complaints against officials, since the BJP came to power in the state in 2013, did not find anyone guilty. However, that cannot be the reason for suspending and violating some of the most fundamental freedoms that make India a vibrant democracy. It is also obvious that the move undermines the executive’s accountability. The state government and the BJP brass should know better since the party rode to power promising to reduce corruption in public life.