New Delhi: Confronting widespread outrage over a law that seeks to protect ministers and officials from corruption investigations and also restrict the media from reporting on them, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje late on Monday night called a meeting in which it was decided that the move would be reviewed by a panel.
The law, introduced through an ordinance or executive order last month, stops courts from taking up complaints against ministers, lawmakers and officials without the government's approval.
Amid protests and two petitions in court, the Raje government had yesterday tabled the ordinance in the state assembly. The BJP, with a comfortable majority in the house, had planned to enact the law after debate in the three-day session.
The proposed law has drawn searing criticism not just from activists and the opposition Congress but also from at least two lawmakers of the ruling BJP, who have gone public with their disapproval. One of them, Ghanshyam Tiwari, even compared it to the Emergency of 1975 under Congress rule, when opposition leaders were jailed and the media was gagged.
The ordinance has also been challenged in the High court, with a petition arguing that it allows a "large section of the society the license to commit crime".
The Rajasthan government had said a law was necessary to end "frivolous allegations" meant to defame ministers and officials.
The law, introduced through an ordinance or executive order last month, stops courts from taking up complaints against ministers, lawmakers and officials without the government's approval.
Amid protests and two petitions in court, the Raje government had yesterday tabled the ordinance in the state assembly. The BJP, with a comfortable majority in the house, had planned to enact the law after debate in the three-day session.
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The proposed law has drawn searing criticism not just from activists and the opposition Congress but also from at least two lawmakers of the ruling BJP, who have gone public with their disapproval. One of them, Ghanshyam Tiwari, even compared it to the Emergency of 1975 under Congress rule, when opposition leaders were jailed and the media was gagged.
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The ordinance has also been challenged in the High court, with a petition arguing that it allows a "large section of the society the license to commit crime".
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The Rajasthan government had said a law was necessary to end "frivolous allegations" meant to defame ministers and officials.
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