Rights in The Indian Constitution

Rights in the
Indian
Constitution
Table of Contents
• What are Rights?
• What is the importance of rights ?
• What are Fundamental Rights?
• Classification of the Fundamental Rights
• What are the Directive Principles of State Policy?
• Directive Principles implemented by the government
• Relationship between Fundamental Rights & Directive Principles
• Fundamental Duties
• Important Fundamental Duties
What are Rights?
• Rights are those favourable conditions to be provided by a state to its
citizens to live a dignified life.
• Rights shape human personality.
• Rights give us self respect . Without rights a man is like a slave.
• Rights are very important for the self development of human beings
What is the importance of Rights
• Rights are a check on the arbitrary powers and acts of the government.
• Rights are a check on certain actions of private citizens and organisations.
Some rights are enforceable against persons or private organisations, thus
person practicing untouchability shall be punished in accordance of law.
What are Fundamental Rights?
• Fundamental Rights are given in part III of our
constitution(Articles12-35).
• These are guaranteed under the Indian Constitution.
• These are fundamental in the sense that they have been given in the
Fundamental Law of the land and can be enforced by the courts.
• They are not absolute and are subject to reasonable restrictions.
Difference between Fundamental Rights &
Other Rights
• The Ordinary Rights (Right to marry, right to property & the like) they are
protected by ordinary laws but the fundamental rights are protected and
enforced by the constitution.
• Ordinary rights can be changed by the legislature by ordinary procedure of
law making but fundamental rights can only be changed by amending the
constitution.
Classification of Fundamental Rights
Right to Equality
(Article 14-18)
• Article 14 (Equality before law) guarantees Equality before law and
Equal protection of laws within the Indian territory.
• Article 15(Prohibition of Discrimination) prohibits the state to
discriminate the citizens on the basis of caste, colour, creed and sex. No
citizen shall be denied access to shops, public places
• Article 16(Equality of opportunity in matters of Public
Employment) ensures that there shall be no discrimination against any
citizen on the grounds of caste, colour, creed, place of birth and sex in
respect of employment under the state.
• Article 17(Abolition of Untouchability) declares that untouchability is
abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden.
Right to Freedom
(Article 19-22)
• Article 19 ensures to the citizens
1) Freedom to speech and expression
2) Freedom of assembly
3) Freedom to form associations and unions
4) Freedom to move freely throughout the country
5) Freedom to reside in any part of India
6) Right to practice any profession
7) Right to Information
Right to Information became a fundamental right in 2005 under article
19 . This right gives the citizens the power to seek information about
government records and documents.
Rights of persons accused of any offence
(Article 20)
Article 20 gives protection to such persons who are accused of
committing an offence. According to them
1) No person shall be punished except for the violation of law.

2) No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself
3) No person shall be punished for the same crime more than
once.
Right to Life and Liberty
(Article 21)
Article 21 declares that no one shall be deprived of his Life and
Liberty except for the procedure established by law
• Article 21(A) deals with the Right to Education.

• It seeks to provide free and compulsory education to children
aged 6 to 14 years.
• The Right to Education bill was passed by the parliament in
August 2009
Article 22
• Any person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be

produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of 24
hours of arrest.
• The above safeguards are not available to an enemy , alien or a
person arrested or detained under a law providing for
preventive detention.
Right against Exploitation
(Article 23-24)
Article 23 deals with the prohibition of forced labour and traffic
of human beings.
• It prohibits beggar and other forms of forced labour. Traffic in
human beings refers to buying and selling of men , women and
children.
Article 24 deals with prohibition of employment of children in
factories etc.
• No child below the age of 14 shall be employed to work in any
factory or mine.
Right to Freedom of Religion
(Article 25-28)
• Right to Freedom of Religion deals with the freedom of conscience and
free profession and propagation of religion. The constitution guarantees
the right to profess, practise and propagate religion.
• It gives the freedom to manage religious affairs. It guarantees the right to
establish and maintain institutions for the religious and purposes.
• The constitution establishes a secular state. It gives equal treatment of all
religions.
• No religious instructions can be provided in any educational institution
maintained by the state funds.
Cultural and Educational Rights
(Article 29-30)
Right to conserve the Language , Script and Culture- The constitution
give the minorities the Right to conserve their language, script and
culture.
• Such minorities cannot be denied admission in a government funded
educational institutions.
Right to establish Educational Institutions- Minorities have the right to
establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
• In granting aid to institutions, the state shall not discriminate against any
institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority.
Right to Constitutional Remedies
(Article 32)
Article 32 gives the Supreme Court the power to enforce the Fundamental Rights of the citizens. If
there is an infringement of Fundamental Rights of a citizen, he can move to the Supreme court to
enforce them.
The following are the writs that can be issued by the Supreme Court-
1)Habeas Corpus- It provides a remedy for a person who is wrongly detained.
2) Mandamus- This writ compels an inferior court or an individual to perform their duty.
3) Prohibition- This writ prevents an inferior court to exercise a power that is not in its jurisdiction
4) Certiorari-By this writ the lower court is asked to hand over the record of a particular case to the
higher court.
5) Quo Warranto- This writ is directed against a person by who has wrongfully usurped an office.
Directive Principles of State Policy
(Article 36-51)
Directive Principles of State Policy are in the nature of
guidelines for the govt to establish a just society in the
country.
These lay down positive obligations on the state to give each
and every person what he wants that is, living wage, humane
conditions, equal justice etc.
These don’t have any legal sanctions behind them and are
not justiciable in nature.
Directive principles ,though not justiciable yet it shall be the
duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws.
Important Directive Principles
• The state should ensure for its citizens adequate means of
livelihood.
• There should be equal pay for equal work
• Childhood and youth should be protected from exploitation
• The state should ensure Right to work, Right to education, Right to
state assistance in cases of unemployment, old age and sickness.
Directive Principles implemented by the
government
• Equal pay for equal work
• Right to Education
• Welfare schemes for weaker sections of society implemented by both Centre
and state.
• Land Reform Acts were enacted to provide ownership rights to poor farmers.
• Panchayati Raj now covers almost all States and UTs . One third of the total
number of seats have been reserved for women in Panchayat.
Relationship between Fundamental Rights &
Directive Principles
• Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles are complementary to each other.
• However, at times, when Government tries to implement Directive Principles, it can come
in conflict with the fundamental rights.
• Govt abolished Zamindari system in order to implement Land Reforms. These measures
were going against Right to Property.
• However keeping in mind the societal needs that are greater than the individual interests ,
the govt amended the constitution to give effect to the Directive Principles.
• This controversy was settled by an decision of the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharti
Case.
• Parliament can not change the basic structure of the constitution.
Fundamental Duties
• The 42nd Amendment Act 1976 added new chapter to the
constitution of India. These are called the Fundamental Duties.
• Ten fundamental duties have been inserted in our constitution.
They carry no penal provisions.
Important Fundamental Duties
• To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and
the National Anthem.
• To defend the country and render service when called upon to do so.
• To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.
• To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of
India.
• To protect and improve the natural environment including forests,lakes,rivers and wild life.
• To safeguard public property.
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1) No person shall be punished except for the violation of law.

• Article 21(A) deals with the Right to Education.

• Any person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be

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