Is the Rule of Law is ensured in our Country or not?

1. Is the Rule of Law is ensured in our Country or not?
Rule of law is a structure, which protect the rights of citizens from arbitrary and abusive
use of government power. According to A. V. Diecy, the rule of law is opposed to the
rule of arbitrary power. He also gave three meanings of the concept of rule of law-
1. Absence of arbitrary power or Supremacy of Law;
2. Equality before Law; and
3. Constitution is the result of the ordinary law of the land.
Rule of Law is one of the essential parts of a civilized society. No Civilized modern
nation cannot run without the implication of the Rule of Law. Like every independent
civilized modern country rule of law one of the basic principles of the constitution of
Bangladesh. Although in our country, laws are made for the welfare of the citizens, but in
most of the cases it does not implicates. As a result, the rule of law is not fully ensured in
our country.
Rule of Law: The Constitution of Bangladesh
In the constitution of Bangladesh Rule of Law has its own place. Under the constitution
of Bangladesh-
 Article 27 guarantees that all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal
protection of law.
 Article 31 guarantees that to enjoy the protection of the law and to be treated in
accordance with law... and in particular no action detrimental to the life, liberty,
body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with
Law.
 18 fundamental rights have been guaranteed in the constitutional arrangement for
their effective enforcement has been ensured in Articles 44 and 102.
 Articles 7 and 26 impose limitation on the legislature that no law which is
inconsistent with any provision of the constitution can be passed.
 In accordance with Article 7, 26 and 102(2) of the constitution the supreme court
exercise the power of judicial review, whereby it can examine the extent and
legality of the actions of both executive and legislative and can declare any of their
actions void, if they do anything beyond their constitutional limits.
Rule of Law in Bangladesh: Practical Perspective
In reality, equality before law is reserved for only those who are privileged and enjoying
immunities. The rest of the population is the helpless victim who suffers form the
injustice suppression of the powerful.
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The separation of higher judiciary from the lower judiciary which was a big issue for a
long time. But there are some aspects which contradicts the separation of judiciary:
1. Magistrates are performing dual function of both executive and judiciary which is
not desirable in the interest of justice;
2. The service of district and session judges, their transfer, promotion etc. are
controlled not by the Supreme Court, but by the law ministry.
To enforce Rule of law enforcement agencies are really important. But unfortunately in
Bangladesh law enforcement agencies don’t have a good record over human right cases.
In fact they serve the government as enforcers and enjoy the freedom to act arbitrarily.
Ordinance making power can be supported only in emergency situation like national
crisis, national calamity severe economic deflection etc. demanding for immediate
legislative actions. But Article 93 of the Constitution allows the president to promulgate
ordinances anytime during the vacation of parliament session. On the other hand Article
141(A) empowers the president to declare emergency whenever he wishes.
Another repulsive aspect of our judicial system is the charge of corruption against our
judiciary. Moreover, the poor people can not reach before the judges only because of
mobility to meet the charge required for going through the complicated process of
litigation.
From above discussions, it clearly shows that the present condition of rule of law in
Bangladesh is not acceptable at all. Although we know that every organs/body are
separated from each other and our judiciary system are independent, but it is not real in
practical sense. Most of the cases, Judiciary is impacted by the executive or other
Governmental body. As a result, Judges cannot exercise their power in judicial system
properly, and day by day our judiciary system is being hampered and administration of
justice is being violated. Otherwise, it cannot be directly said that Rule of Law is not
implicated in our country. In practically, it can be said it is partly ensured and partly not
ensured.
ARNAB | PCIU | LAW | arnab@legislator.com