That the primary duty of the state is to enforce the rule of law goes without saying. So what is this rule of law? Simply put, it means that laws apply equally to everyone in a democracy, even the most powerful government officials and elected leaders. It also means that laws are created through a pre-determined, open, and transparent process and not by the whims of the most powerful members of society. Next to free and fair elections, one of the most important defining characteristics of democracy is the rule of law. While the citizens of a democracy choose their leaders and representatives through elections, the rule of law defines the relationship between representatives and citizens between elections.
Essentially, Democracy is a system of rule by laws, not individuals. This rule of law protects the rights of citizens, maintains order, and limits the power of government. All citizens are equal under the law. No one may be discriminated against on the basis of their race, religion, ethnic group, or gender. Hence the rule of law is at the heart of the relationship between society and the state. It is the basis for creating trust and accountability and forms the social contract between a government and its citizens.
To enforce the rule of law, the state has created a police organization and the judiciary. It is the duty of the police and other enforcement agencies to ensure that no one usurps the power vested on them by the state to carry out their responsibilities. Increasingly, in Meghalaya we are seeing this dilution of the rule of law. Non-state actors have time and again appropriated the role of the police. The recent setting up of check gates at various entry points to Meghalaya by a student body, ostensibly to put a brake on the spillover after the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in neighbouring Assam was released, is a case in point. This did not go down well with many genuine travelers who were subjected to this non-state policing which sets down its own rules of engagement. Those who had to traverse through Meghalaya to Silchar and beyond were harassed and the matter even came up in Parliament. This does not bode well for Meghalaya. This points to certain slackness in the application of the rule of law. While no one endorses a police state but the state too cannot outsource its responsibilities to sundry vigilante groups.
