The State as Protector and Violator: Human Rights and Democratic Accountability in India

Abstract

Human rights in a democracy are usually discussed in terms of the protections that citizens possess against arbitrary power. Yet the state occupies a more complicated position. It is responsible for securing life, liberty and equality, but it also controls the institutions most capable of restricting them. This article examines this contradiction in contemporary India. It argues that human rights violations should not be understood merely as isolated acts of official misconduct. They often emerge from institutional structures that permit excessive coercion, weak accountability, prolonged detention and exceptional legal powers. At the same time, courts, the National Human Rights Commission and constitutional remedies have produced an extensive framework for protecting rights. The difficulty lies increasingly in the distance between legal guarantees and their everyday implementation. The article argues that the democratic legitimacy of the state depends not on abandoning its responsibility to maintain security and public order, but on ensuring that coercive power remains bounded by legality, necessity, transparency and effective accountability.