Editors Guild asks Raje govt to drop ordinance

NEW DELHI: The Editors Guild of India expressed deep concern over Rajasthan Government’s decision to make the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance 2017 into an Act in the current legislative session here on Sunday.
Urging CM Vasundhara Raje to withdraw the ordinance, the Guild noted, “The ordinance, promulgated by the state government in September, was ostensibly done to protect the judiciary and the bureaucracy against false FIRs.
“But, in reality it is a pernicious instrument to harass the media, hide wrongful acts by government servants and drastically curb the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Constitution of India... Rather than taking stern measures to prevent and punish those who indulge in... false litigation, the Rajasthan government has passed an ordinance that is bent on bludgeoning the messenger.