Rajasthan Governor Sends Back Gehlot-Era Lynching, Honour Killing and Other Bills to Assembly

New Delhi: Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde has sent back ten bills to the state legislative assembly for reconsideration, raising constitutional and legal objections. The matter was informed to the House on Wednesday (January 28). Nine of these bills were cleared during the previous Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot, while one dates to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s first term in 2008.

As per constitutional procedure, a governor can return a state legislation if it is inconsistent with existing central laws. States can make laws on subjects in the state list, while both the Union government and the state governments have powers over matters in the concurrent list. In case of a conflict, central laws take precedence and state legislation cannot prevail.

Among the nine Gehlot-era bills returned are the Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019; the Rajasthan Prohibition of Interference with Freedom of Marital Relationships in the Name of Honour and Tradition Bill, 2019; three agriculture-related amendment bills passed in November 2020; two private university bills approved in 2022; and the Rajasthan Electricity (Tariff) Bill, 2023 and the Nathdwara Temple (Amendment) Bill, 2023, both cleared in August 2023.

According a report published in The New Indian Express, while returning the 2019 bill on honour killings, the governor flagged that the draft relied on the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, both of which have been replaced. The governor also observed that Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 already provides sufficient legal provisions to deal with honour killing.

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