India’s survival as a democracy has been in itself a great achievement. Unfortunately somewhere along the way the institutions have lost their savour. We have faced and overcome many challenges. The challenge to restore rule of law to its rightful place is much simpler. The remedy is threefold.

First, re-establish the credibility of the civil services and the police by ensuring that they run the country in accordance with the law and policies (not diktats) made by the elected representatives. Secondly, all populist methods incompatible with the rule of law must be eschewed. Let’s follow Gandhiji’s ‘means justify the ends’ philosophy. Populist methods or agendas must be within the framework of the law, and populist laws must be within the framework of the Constitution. Third, we need an allocation of sufficient resources to the justice delivery system.

The media did yeomen service in the Jessica Lall case. This momentum must not be lost. The media can create sufficient public awareness that will ultimately force the pace of these reforms.

We can only forget at our peril the warning of the great jurist John Locke, who said, “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.”

The writer is a senior lawyer