Rajasthan Advocates Protection Bill, 2023 Passed in Amended Form

• 22 Mar 2023

Why in News?

On 21 March 2023, Rajasthan's Law and Legal Affairs Minister Shanti Kumar Dhariwal said that the state assembly has passed the Rajasthan Advocates Protection Bill, 2023 in amended form to prevent violence against advocates, in which important suggestions are included given by advocates.

Key Points

• Shanti Kumar Dhariwal said that the Rajasthan Advocates Protection Bill, 2023 has been brought to prevent assault, grievous hurt, criminal force and criminal intimidation against any advocate while discharging his duties in the state. With this law, advocates will get protection against violence.
• He said that Rajasthan is the first state where such a law has been brought in the direction of protection of advocates. For the welfare of the advocates, every year Rs 5 crore is given by the State Government to the Bar Council.
• The provisions of the Bill have been prepared after detailed discussions with advocates. In this regard, the first meeting was held in the year 2019, after which several informal meetings were held to prepare the bill.
• If a criminal damages the property of an advocate, a provision has been made to recover the amount of compensation fixed by the court and give it to the aggrieved advocate. The speedy recovery of this amount of compensation will be done on the lines of arrears of land revenue.
• A provision of punishment of up to 2 years has also been made for misuse of this law by the advocates. Also, Clause 9 of the Rajasthan Advocates Protection Bill, 2023 draft has been deleted.