Rights: Meaning & Theories Different Kinds of Rights-2 - UPSC PDF Download

Fundamental Rights

Right to Equality

The Right to Equality is one of the chief guarantees of the Constitution of India. Articles 14–18 of Constitution highlights the right to equality. It refers to the equality in the eyes of law irrespective of caste, race, and religion, place of birth or sex. When appraising Indian constitutional law, it can be stated that Article 14 guarantees equality before law as well as equal protection of the law to not only citizen of India but also to all the people within the territory of India. This includes the equal subjection of all persons to the authority of law, as well as equal treatment of persons in similar circumstances. The State cannot refuse this right. But no persons or group of persons can demand for any special treatment or any special privilege.

• Article 15 forbids discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or any of them. This right applies only to inhabitants of India and can be enforced against the State as well as private individuals, individuals, regarding free access to places of public entertainment or places of public resort maintained partly or wholly out of State funds. The State has the right to make special treatment for women, children and for the development of backward class, scheduled caste or scheduled tribe people.
• Article 16 promises equality of opportunity in matters of public employment. It prevents the State from discriminating against anyone in respect of employment on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, and place of birth or place of residence. However, the State may provide special reservation to the people of backward classes, scheduled castes or scheduled tribes for the upliftment of the weaker sections as well as for a person professing that particular religion in case of religious institution.
• Article17 abolishes the practice of untouchability. It has been declared an offence punishable by law. The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 has been enacted by the Parliament which states punishments for not allowing a person to enter the place of worship and from taking water from a well or tank.
• Article 18 prohibits the State from granting any titles other than military or academic distinctions, distinctions, and even the citizens of India cannot accept titles from a foreign state. Thus, Indian aristocratic titles and titles of nobility given by the British have been abolished.

Right to Freedom

• Article 19 assures the citizens of India the following six fundamental freedoms subject to certain restrictions:
  • Freedom of Speech and Expression
  • Freedom of Assembly
  • Freedom of form Associations
  • Freedom of Movement
  • Freedom of Residence and SettlementFreedom of Profession, Occupation, Trade and Business.

• Article 20 provides protection from conviction for offences in certain respects, respects, including the rights against ex post facto laws, double danger and freedom from self-incrimination.

• Article 21 averts the encroachment /protection of life or personal liberty by the State. No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

• Article 22 offers specific rights to arrested and detained persons, i.e., the rights to be informed of the grounds of arrest, arrest, consult a lawyer of one's own choice, be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest, and the freedom not to be detained beyond that period without an order of the magistrate. Article 22 also provides that when a person is detained under any law of preventive detention, the State can detain such person without trial for only three months, months, and any detention for a longer period must be authorised by an Advisory Board. The person being detained, has the right to be informed about the grounds of detention, and be permitted to make a representation against it, at the earliest opportunity.

Right against Exploitation

• Article 23 prohibits human trafficking and forced labour or any act of compelling a person to work without wages where he was legally entitled not to work or to receive remuneration for it. Any contravention leads to an offence. However, it permits the State to impose compulsory service for public purposes, including conscription and community service. The Bonded Labour system (Abolition) Act, 1976, has been enacted by Parliament to give effect to this Article.
• Article 24 prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in factories, mines and other hazardous jobs. Parliament has enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition (Prohibition and Regulation) Regulation) Act, 1986, providing regulations for the abolition of, and penalties for employing, child labour, as well as provisions for rehabilitation of former child labourers. The Employment of Children Act, 1938 was the first act to prevent Child Labour.

Right to Freedom of Religion

• Article 25 promises all persons the freedom of conscience and the right to preach, practice and propagate any religion of their choice. This right is, however, subject to public order, morality and health, and the power of the State to take measures for social welfare and reform. The right in this article shall not affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making new law.
• Article 26 guarantees all religious denominations or any sections, subject to public order, morality and health; to manage their own affairs in matters of religion, religion, set up or manage institutions of their own for charitable or religious purposes, and own, acquire and manage property in accordance with law. These provisions do not derogate/deviate from the State's power to acquire property belonging to a religious denomination.
• Article 27 guarantees freedom for payment of taxes. No person can be compelled to pay taxes for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious institution.
• Article 28 forbids religious instruction in a wholly State-funded educational institution, and educational institutions receiving aid from the State cannot compel any of their members to receive religious instruction or attend religious worship without their consent or their guardian's consent in case of minor.

Cultural and Educational Rights

• Article 29 grants any section of citizens having a distinct language, script culture of its own, and the right to conserve and develop the same, and thus defences the rights or interest of minorities by preventing the State from imposing any external culture on them. It also prohibits discrimination against any citizen for admission into any educational institutions maintained or aided by the State, on the basis of religion, race, caste, language or any of them. 
• Article 30 promises the right of minorities to set up and administer educational institutions of their choice in order to preserve and develop their own culture, and prohibits the State, while granting aid, from discriminating against any institution on the basis of the fact that it is administered or managed by a religious or cultural minority.

Right to constitutional remedies

The Right to Constitutional Remedies is covered in Article 32. It empowers inhabitants to approach the Supreme Court of India to seek enforcement, enforcement, or protection against infringement, of their Fundamental Rights. Article 32 provides a guaranteed remedy for enforcement of all the other Fundamental Rights, and the Supreme Court is designated as the protector of these rights by the Constitution. The Supreme Court has been empowered to issue writs, namely habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, and quo warrant, for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights, while the High Courts have been empowered under Article 226 - which is not a Fundamental Right in itself.

India was a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• To summarize, rights are regarded as central to civilization, being observed as established pillars of society and culture. Traditionally, Rights are moral laws specifying what a person should be free to do, and they come from God. In other way, rights are political laws specifying what a person is free to do, and they are created by governments.
• Today these claims are articulated and formulated and called as human rights. It can be supposed that human rights reproduce the minimum standards essential for people to live with self-respect. Human rights give people the freedom to choose how they live, how they express themselves, and what kind of government they want to support, among many other things. Human rights also assure people the means necessary to satisfy their basic needs, such as food, housing, and education.