Fundamental deficiencies in our democracy

The separation of judiciary: Segregation of the judiciary from the executive body of the state has been recognised as the most important issue in a democratic polity as this process guarantees an equal justice to be delivered to the people forgetting their colour, status, financial or administrative influence. Retaining control over an independent judiciary under a democratic structure means the arbitration process is clearly influenced by the power of administrative branch and thus the true justice system is impeded. Specially, the lower branch of the judiciary is affected directly by this trend. In Bangladesh, the lower branch of the judiciary namely, Magistrate court, has been under grip of the government for long and that is why it is highly questionable how effective this offshoot of judicial institution is in terms of giving off proper judgement. We have registered in past that whenever a government gets changed, a huge number of known criminals get bail while members of the opposition are locked up without any definite proof being submitted or shown by the authorities concerned. This trend is completely alien to the democratic characteristics and an ominous sign of how democratic norms are getting destroyed little by little.

An institution of Ombudsman: As we hear governmental influence over the arbitration process by the lower branch of the judiciary, from time to time, could be lessened dramatically, if and only if we had an institution of Ombudsman. This is such an institution, which having an independent status, can investigate into any case, record the flaws, make the reports public or even present it before the court without having to be answerable to the government for its action. Most importantly, this institution holds the right to take the government to the court for any known or unknown wrong-doings. But, an absence of this crucial structure in a state influences the government not to hesitate to commit misdeeds. The governments of Bangladesh have been able to avoid law in many cases in spite of committing plenty of wrong-doings only because they were not answerable to any institution. The index which shows an increasing graph regarding our practice of corruption is the direct output of that absence of the said legal structure. Having an ombudsman could provide an opportunity to look into the sensitive cases like Udichi bombing, recovery of ammunition, bombing at Hazrat Shahjalal Mosque etc.

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Human rights commission: Preservation and protection of human rights are now high on the agenda of governments across the globe. From Asia to Africa, America to Europe, everywhere in the world, it is a burning issue. In developing countries like Bangladesh, this is far more important than any other issue as the powerful muscle of the state always endeavours to fool the common people in various ways and thus keep them deprived of getting the opportunities they deserve to have. Not only this, they are kept apart to get hold of the other rights from the state by some misapplication of laws, machination, threat or consternation. The credentials of our country in this respect often come under international scrutiny. In this critical junction, a human rights commission could have been very effective in setting our records straight. Most importantly, it is the essential part of a democratic culture.

Democratic political ambience: In democracy, a democratic atmosphere in practicing politics is a dire necessity. But, if you keep an analysing eye on our political scenario, what you would probably find out is nothing but political acrimony. Bill Richardson, an influential figure during the regime of president Bill Clinton, once said while visiting Bangladesh that the country should get rid of the political acrimony to ensure a total and pluralistic democracy. But, to our utter dismay, we have noticed that our politicians have not paid any attention to this area, rather, they have set their sights on developing acrimonious and hostile relationship. In such an atmosphere, a nascent democracy, as we call it, cannot thrive . I don't know of any example of any country save Bangladesh in the world where the interests of the country has fallen behind the task of establishing party ideology.

Impartial and independent media -- Winner of noble prize for welfare economy, Amartya Sen has given this field an "urgent status" to ensure a democratic polity.

Maybe, our country is ridden with various problems and crises, but we have a very good potential to thrive as a true democratic state. Our two parties dominate the political arena, we have a strong cultural base, a potential economic platform and, above all, an industrious population, which speak volumes for the development potential.

Sulav Barua is at the Criminal Justice and Criminology Depart-ment, Middlesex University, London.