PROSECUTE THE CORRUPT, BUT PROTECT FREE SPEECH IN LEGISLATURES

INDIA'S first Finance Minister, T T Krishnamachari, was forced to resign after the exposure of the Haridas Mundhra financial scandal by ruling party MP Feroze Gandhi, son-inlaw of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

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MPs and MLAs have cornered governments and business-men using their constitutional immunity on free speech in legislatures. The framers of the Constitution protected legislators against legal proceedings in a court of law for what they say in the legislatures and how they vote. This protection to speak and vote without fear of prosecution is provided in the Constitution under Articles 105(2) and 194, the former of which states, “No member of parliament shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in parliament or any committee thereof." While Article 105(2) provides this immuni