Srinagar, June 26 -- In a constitutional democracy like India, the legitimacy of the justice system rests not only on statutes and structures but on the shared belief that the law exists to uphold dignity, equality, and reason over impulse, vengeance, or spectacle.

At the heart of this democratic vision is public trust, an invisible but powerful thread that binds citizens to institutions like the police and judiciary.

But when these institutions begin to mimic the very anarchy they are meant to contain, the fabric of trust starts to fray. Policing, when carried out beyond constitutional limits, ceases to be a shield of justice and instead becomes a symbol of the state's slide into performative authoritarianism.

What we recently witness...