AN MSP is forcing a parliamentary statement from Scottish Ministers over improvements to anti-stalking laws following a controversial harassment case involving best-selling author Janice Galloway.
A question over the issues will be put by Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm, the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.
It is expected that either Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, or Roseanna Cunningham, the minister for community safety and legal affairs, will make a statement in answer.
The intervention by Mr Chisholm, the co-convenor of the Scottish Parliament cross-party group on Men's Violence Against Women and Children, comes after Ms Galloway's former lover walked free from court over harassment charges.
She later called for a "significant and workable change" in the law.
Mr Chisholm said he was "appalled" by the case involving Ms Galloway and will ask them "what improvements it will make to the law in relation to stalking".He said she was "absolutely right to demand a change to the law on stalking".
A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: "The question has been lodged so the government will be considering that and preparing an answer to give at oral question time next week."
The Scottish Government said it was "happy to work" with the Crown Office "to see if the law on criminal non-harassment orders needs to be adjusted".
Pianist Graeme McNaught, 54, of Mount Vernon, Glasgow, faced five charges of acting in a threatening and abusive manner and placing Ms Galloway, author of novels such as The Trick is to Keep Breathing and Foreign Parts, in a state of fear and alarm.
Mr McNaught was found by Sheriff Ray Small to have carried out the acts, but concerns over his mental health meant a trial was halted and he escaped a criminal conviction.
The sheriff is understood to have said there was no need for a supervision and treatment order after reviewing three reports following a medical examination.
A non-harassment order was unable to imposed as there was no conviction. Breaches of any non-harassment order can be punished with a jail sentence of up to five years.
Mr Chisholm, who is also co-convenor of the cross party group on mental health, added: "The law needs to be changed quickly."
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