Rule of law, anyone?

Source: The post is based on an article “Rule of law, anyone?” published in the Business Standard on 5^th July 2022.

Syllabus: GS2 Basic Features of the Constitution of India

Relevance: The rule of law

News: In recent months, there have been various cases across the world, in which the violation of the rule of law has been seen. It means the rule of law does not work in all circumstances.

A few examples will prove that point.

Global Level

(1) The US Supreme Court over-ruled a half-century-old law that made abortion a part of women’s rights.

(2) Swedish PM said that their integration had failed because mainstream Swedish society and its immigrant citizens lived in “parallel societies”. And there was a case of Muslim groups who rioted over alleged blasphemy by one politician,

(3)  In 2018, former German chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged that there were no-go zones, referred to Muslim ghettos in some cities, for the law enforcement agencies.

India

In India, in some states, the vigilante groups take the laws, which do not allow cow slaughter or the transportation of bovine animals without permits, in their hand.

What are the important conditions for working on the rule of law across the world?

First, there must be a very strong group of interests that must want the law legislated and enforced.

Second, the state itself must be powerful enough to be able to do so.

Third, when societies change, the law must be flexible enough to quickly change too. But when large communities live in “parallel” universes, this change will not happen fast enough.

Fourth, when different social groups exist and cannot agree on what the law should be, the rule of law cannot work. In this situation, these groups should come to agreements before making the laws.

What are the challenges to the rule of law?

In general

The laws made through a process of one-sided concessions result in more bad blood between communities rather than peace and amity.

Global Example

The Non-proliferation treaty is not respected by various countries including India because it was a one-sided treaty.

India

The founding fathers of the Indian Republic, made one sided concessions or non-reciprocal concessions. Therefore, the laws enshrined into the Constitution or the Indian Penal Code are dead letters. Every community does not agree upon various laws. Therefore, they don’t cooperate in their implementation. For example, Hindus and Muslims don’t agree on the cow slaughter ban etc.

Way Forward

The contentious laws work best when they are negotiated and reciprocal in nature.

There has to be community-level negotiation based on give and take, for laws to work. For example, If Hindus and Muslims agree that there will be no ban on cow slaughter, i.e., a concession by Hindus, then there has to be a significant reciprocal concession made by Muslims for any agreement to be honoured.

The rule of law must be backed by all groups and communities based on reciprocity and give and take.