THE constitutional aphorism that all are equal in the eye of law has become more of a cliché than a realised ideal in our context. In spite of the constitutional guarantee for justice and fair-play to all people, presence of institutions and availability of a capillary of laws, the justice system has failed to reach out to the common man. This is all the more unfortunate because: (a) Bangladesh was achieved through a Liberation War that aimed at justice for all, political, economic and social; and (b) we have had a democracy reincarnated for the last more than one decade.

The reasons are not far to seek: judiciary is not independent from the all-powerful executive, instruments of power have been abused, lower judiciary is by and large corrupt and vulnerable to executive pressure, case-loads have been exacting on the judiciary leading to justice delayed being justice denied and being costly.

The just-retired Chief Justice has aptly said that our poor are deprived of justice given the system we presently have. While we have shown a tendency towards legislating more, law enforcement has been flawed and weak, itself requiring reform, although we never tire of saying we need reform of law. Little wonder, there is a culture of impunity feeding largely on poor enforcement of law. In all, justice has not permeated the individual level.

In this segment of the supplement, we have focused on the inadequacies of the system and have had some eminent experts suggest areas where reforms are necessary.

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Editor