Rule of Law

Rule of law is not very easy to define as it means many things at once and not the same to all people. It is even further difficult to quantify. In the absence of a reliable metric, the state of of rule of law in countries cannot be compared. Most often, comparison of countries are likely to be based on perceptions as well as value systems of the judging individual or group of individuals.

 

Some of the commonly accepted ingredients of Rule of Law are: a government bound by and ruled by law, equality before the law, effective law and order, efficient and consistent application of justice and the protection of human rights. Each of these ingredients has a very wide scope composed of many sub-concepts.

 

A word of caution here is that we need to understand the circumstances and people by whom laws are made. In many countries we have seen that interest groups disproportionately influence legislatures and laws enacted tend to favour the proponents more. If the law making process is subverted, the foundations of rule of law gets administered iniquitously leading to eroded credibility of the Law and Judicial system. The capture of the different institutions of the law enforcement mechanism by narrow interest groups not only causes trust deficit but also is likely to lead to breach of Human rights.

 

Selective application of laws leads to severe trust deficit. In some cases we see archaic laws being used to punish people inimical or critical of the system. At the same time, similar action acts by people in favour are usually ignored.

 

Rule of Law and equality before law is very often subverted by the cost of the legal process. In many cases inability to engage the best advocates leads to losing of cases by individuals. It is a common refrain in many countries that the rich get away with crimes that the poor would not be able to escape from.

 

Delay in disposal of cases also subverts rule of law. All levels of courts in India are hugely overloaded with work and oftentimes it takes around a decade to dispose civil litigation. Even criminal trials take a very long time if we account for the time taken in the appeals process. The rich and influential use the loopholes in law and the caseload of courts to their advantage and obtain undue benefit. This evident miscarriage of justice reduces faith in rule of law and people look at extra judicial solutions.

 

Correction in any system is possible only when it is an open to discussion and criticism and where Government shares information, empowers people with tools to hold the government accountable, and fosters citizen participation in public policy deliberations. Requests for information should not be deflected even if the machinery at large tries to mask happenings.

 

An active civil society plays a vey important role in enforcing transparency and rule of law. Hence, as a society we should create the framework for protection of freedom of speech, assembly and association.