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Context:
- Rule of law is the fundamental principle of governance of any civilised liberal democracy but the Uttar Pradesh government looks somewhat determined to disregard the first principles of the criminal justice system.
More in news:
- Police encounters have become routine in U.P.
- In December, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had introduced in the State Assembly the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Bill, 2017 on the pattern of the regressive Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
- Such legislation does not promote the rule of law, but is itself a kind of violence, though a legitimate one with due authority of law.
- Such laws are basically examples of “rule by law” as law itself negates human rights and permits deviations from due processes.
- The fundamental premise of the rule of law is that every human being, including the worst criminal, is entitled to basic human rights and due process.
Encounter killing:
- Encounter killings generally take place with the prior consent or in full knowledge of the top authority.
- But in reality, when after a long wait, the trial in cases of fake encounter takes place, the main culprits easily get discharged, and, in some cases, the Central Bureau of Investigation even refuses to file an appeal against such discharge, and subsequently many prosecution witnesses turn hostile.
- There is a qualitative difference between use of force in an operation and use of such deadly force that is akin to using a sledgehammer to kill a fly; one is an act of self-defence while the other is an act of retaliation.
- Importantly, the above observations were about terrorists, not ordinary criminals like those being killed in U.P. encounters.
- From the details of U.P. encounters, they do not look like acts of defence by the U.P. police.
- These encounters demonstrate the government’s resolve to adopt ‘the rule by gun’ in preference to ‘the rule of law’.
Conclusion:
- The primordial value is that it is the responsibility of every organ of the State to function within the four corners of constitutional responsibility.
- That is the ultimate rule of law.
