Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies

1. Rights, bills of rights and the features of Part III

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• Why rights matter (Class 11, Rights in the Indian Constitution):
• In the Asiad workers case (1982), the Supreme Court enforced minimum wages.

• Machal Lalung was arrested at 23. He was freed only in July 2005, at 77, after an NHRC team stepped in. That shows a right that exists on paper but is denied in practice.

• Bill of rights: a list of rights written into a constitution. It stops the government from breaking those rights and promises a remedy if it does. It protects people from other persons, which the State must prevent, and from the State's own organs. India's bill of rights is Part III, often called India's Magna Carta (the English charter of 1215 that limited the king's power).

• Lineage: English Bill of Rights 1689 → French Declaration 1789 → US Bill of Rights 1791 → UDHR 1948. In India: Nehru Report 1928 → Karachi Resolution 1931 → Sapru Committee 1945. In the Constituent Assembly, Patel chaired the Advisory Committee. Somnath Lahiri (29 April 1947) said the rights were framed "from the point of view of a police constable".
• A republic protects minorities against the "dominance of the majority". Class 7, The State, the Government, and You makes this point with an RWA's 9 pm delivery ban.
• Fundamental rights vs legal rights:
• Fundamental rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. They can be changed only by constitutional amendment, within the basic structure. They are enforced directly through Art. 32 (Supreme Court) and Art. 226 (High Courts). Class 7, The Constitution of India: An Introduction calls them "promises that must be kept".

• Legal rights are made and unmade by ordinary law.

• Six groups (there were seven until property was removed in 1978):

Group	Articles
Equality	14-18
Freedom	19-22
Against exploitation	23-24
Religion	25-28
Cultural and educational	29-30
Constitutional remedies	32

• Who holds the rights:
• Citizens only: Arts. 15, 16, 19, 29, 30.
• Every person: Arts. 14, 20, 21, 21A, 22, 23-28.
• (NCERT says "every citizen" has the Art. 21 right; in fact Art. 21 protects every person.)

• Companies cannot claim Art. 19, but shareholders can sue (R.C. Cooper, 1970; Bennett Coleman, 1973).

• Constitutional rights outside Part III: Art. 265 (no tax without law), Art. 300A (property), Art. 301 (free trade) and Art. 326 (adult vote). They are enforced through Art. 226 or ordinary suits, not Art. 32.

• Constitution of South Africa (December 1996): its Bill of Rights is a "cornerstone of democracy". It makes housing, health care, food, water and social security justiciable (enforceable in court), enforced by a Constitutional Court. India reads dignity, privacy, environment and information into Art. 21. Food and social security remain only directives in India (see dpsp-fundamental-duties).
• Restriction of rights of armed forces (Art. 33): Parliament may restrict or abolish the fundamental rights of the armed forces. Since the 50th Amendment, 1984, this also covers police, intelligence agencies and their telecom staff.
• Martial law (Art. 34): military rule over an area during a breakdown of order. The Constitution does not define it. Parliament may indemnify (legally protect) officials for acts done to restore order there. It is different from a national emergency.
• Article 35: only Parliament can make laws under Arts. 16(3), 32(3), 33 and 34, and laws punishing Art. 17 and Art. 23 offences.
• Suspension of fundamental rights during emergency:
• Art. 358 suspends Art. 19 automatically, but only when the emergency is for war or external aggression (44th Amendment, 1978).
• Under Art. 359, the President can suspend the right to go to court for named rights, but never Arts. 20 and 21.
• ADM Jabalpur (1976) allowed even habeas corpus to be suspended during the Emergency; Khanna J dissented. Puttaswamy (2017) overruled it.

2. The 'State', Article 13 and the right to property

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• State under Article 12: the Union and state governments and legislatures, local authorities and "other authorities". Fundamental rights bind all of them.
• Courts widened "other authorities" to bodies that act as instruments or agencies of government (R.D. Shetty, 1979; Ajay Hasia, 1981).
• Pradeep Kumar Biswas (2002) added the "deep and pervasive control" test.

• BCCI is not State, but a High Court can still hear writs against it under Art. 226 (Zee Telefilms, 2005).

• Horizontal application of fundamental rights: using rights against private persons, not only the State.

• Arts. 15(2), 17, 23 and 24 bind private persons by their own words.

• Kaushal Kishor (2023) held Arts. 19 and 21 enforceable against non-State actors too.

• Laws inconsistent with fundamental rights (Art. 13): void to the extent they cut into these rights.

• 13(1) covers laws made before the Constitution; 13(2) covers new laws.
• Under 13(3), "law" includes ordinances, rules and custom.
• 13(4) (24th Amendment, 1971) leaves constitutional amendments out.

• Art. 13, with Arts. 32 and 226, is the textual base of judicial review.

• Doctrines courts use:

• Doctrine of eclipse: an old law that breaks a right is not wiped out. It sleeps, and wakes up if the right is later amended away (Bhikaji Narain Dhakras, 1955).
• Doctrine of severability: only the bad part of a law falls, if the rest can stand alone.
• Doctrine of waiver: no one can give up a fundamental right, even willingly (Basheshar Nath, 1959).

• Reading down: a court gives a provision a narrower meaning so it stays valid (sedition in Kedar Nath, 1962).

• Right to property was once a fundamental right under Arts. 19(1)(f) and 31. It ran into zamindari abolition (the land reform that ended big landlord estates).

• Article 31A (1st Amendment, 1951) shields estate acquisition and similar reforms from challenge under Arts. 14 and 19.
• Article 31B (1st Amendment, 1951) protects laws placed in the Ninth Schedule. After I.R. Coelho (2007), laws added after 24 April 1973 can still be tested against the basic structure.

• Then came the 4th Amendment (1955), the 17th (1964), the 25th (1971) and Kesavananda Bharati (1973), which held property not part of the basic structure.

• The 44th Amendment, 1978 deleted Arts. 19(1)(f) and 31 and created Art. 300A: no one can lose property "save by authority of law".

• Class 11, Rights in the Indian Constitution calls it a "simple legal right"; it is a constitutional right.
• It is enforced through Art. 226 or suits, not Art. 32.

• Kolkata Municipal Corporation v. Bimal Kumar Shah (2024) listed seven procedural sub-rights, from notice and hearing to fair compensation.

• Eminent domain: the State's power to take private property for a public purpose. It now works through the LARR Act, 2013: social impact assessment, consent of 80% of affected families for private projects and 70% for PPP projects, and up to four times the market value in rural areas.

3. Equality before law: Article 14

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• The right to equality (Arts. 14-18) aims at "equality of dignity and status". Class 11, Rights in the Indian Constitution says it makes India "a true democracy". The Preamble promises equality of status and of opportunity.
• Right to equality: the group of Arts. 14 (equality before law), 15 (no discrimination), 16 (equal chance in public jobs), 17 (untouchability abolished) and 18 (titles abolished).
• Art. 14 protects every person, not only citizens. It has two parts:
• Equality before law: taken from Britain (Dicey's rule of law). No one is above the law, and the same ordinary courts judge everyone. The rule of law is part of the basic structure (Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain, 1975).

• Equal protection of laws: taken from the USA. People in the same situation must be treated alike.

• Exceptions: immunity of the President and Governors (Art. 361), parliamentary privileges, diplomats' immunity, and Art. 31C.

• Reasonable classification (old test): the State cannot make laws favouring one class without reason, but it may group people if both conditions hold:
• the grouping rests on a real, understandable difference (intelligible differentia);
• the difference has a rational link (nexus) to the law's aim.

• Cases: Anwar Ali Sarkar, 1952; Ram Krishna Dalmia, 1958.

• Doctrine of manifest arbitrariness (new test): "equality and arbitrariness are sworn enemies" (E.P. Royappa, 1974). A clearly arbitrary law breaks Art. 14. Courts used it against instant triple talaq (Shayara Bano, 2017) and adultery (Joseph Shine, 2018).

• Principles of natural justice: two fair-procedure rules. No one may judge their own case, and both sides must be heard. Since Maneka Gandhi (1978) courts treat them as part of Arts. 14 and 21.
• NCERT examples:
• A dalit served tea in an earthen cup.
• Women newsreaders over 45 taken off screen while men of the same age stay on.
• Overweight women cabin crew penalised (compare Air India v. Nargesh Meerza, 1981).
• Class 7, The Constitution of India: An Introduction asks whether "all citizens are equal before the law" is a fact. Answer through formal vs substantive equality (equal rules on paper vs equal results in real life).

4. Non-discrimination, equal opportunity, untouchability and titles: Articles 15-18

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• Prohibition of discrimination (Art. 15(1)-(2)):
• The State cannot discriminate against citizens only on religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
• Art. 15(2) guarantees access to shops, hotels, wells, tanks, ghats, roads and public resorts, and binds private persons too.

• (NCERT also lists "places of worship"; temple entry actually rests on Art. 25(2)(b) and Art. 17.)

• Special provisions for women and children (Art. 15(3)): the State may favour them, for example with women's reservation in local bodies. Begum Aizaz Rasul (22 November 1949) called equality for women India's "rightful heritage".

• Special provisions for backward classes:
• Art. 15(4) (1st Amendment, 1951, after Champakam Dorairajan) covers SEBCs (socially and educationally backward classes), SCs and STs.
• Art. 15(5) (93rd Amendment, 2005) covers admissions, including private unaided institutions but not minority ones.

• Art. 15(6) (103rd Amendment, 2019) allows up to 10% for EWS (economically weaker sections).

• Equality of opportunity in public employment (Art. 16):

• No discrimination on religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth or residence.
• Reservation clauses: Art. 16(4); Art. 16(4A) promotions (77th Amendment, 1995); Art. 16(4B) carry-forward of unfilled posts (81st Amendment, 2000); Art. 16(6) EWS.

• Case law is in vulnerable-sections-safeguards.

• Residence requirement in public employment (Art. 16(3)): only Parliament, not a state, may make residence a condition for public jobs. State domicile rules have been struck down (Kailash Chand Sharma, 2002).

• C.B. Muthamma case (1979): Muthamma became the first woman in the Indian Foreign Service in 1949 and had to promise to resign if she married. A bench led by Krishna Iyer J struck down the service rules that discriminated against women (Class 7, The State, the Government, and You).
• Untouchability (Art. 17): the practice of shutting out some castes as "impure". Art. 17 abolishes it "in any form" and makes it a crime. It is enforced through the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (named the Untouchability (Offences) Act until 1976) and binds private persons. NCERT's "You are the Judge" case: dalit women in Puri were beaten after their community refused to wash upper-caste guests' feet.
• Abolition of titles (Art. 18):
• The State gives no titles except military and academic distinctions.
• Citizens cannot accept foreign titles.
• Balaji Raghavan case (1996): Bharat Ratna and Padma awards are not titles, but they must not be used as prefixes or suffixes to a name.

5. Freedom of speech and expression

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• Right to freedom: the group of Arts. 19-22. It balances one person's liberty with others' liberty and public order (Class 11, Rights in the Indian Constitution). Art. 19 had seven freedoms. Property, 19(1)(f), went in 1978, and cooperatives were added to 19(1)(c) by the 97th Amendment, 2011.
• Freedom of speech and expression (Art. 19(1)(a)): citizens may express views through speech, writing, print, film or any other medium.
• Freedom of the press is not listed but is implied in it (Romesh Thappar, 1950; Sakal Papers, 1962).
• Naveen Jindal case (2004): flying the national flag with dignity is part of free expression (Class 7, The Constitution of India: An Introduction).

• Bijoe Emmanuel case (1986): students who stood respectfully but did not sing the anthem could not be expelled. Free speech includes the right to stay silent.

• Reasonable restrictions: limits on a right that the State may impose only on grounds the Constitution lists. Courts decide whether each limit is reasonable.

• Restrictions on freedom of speech: Art. 19(2) now has eight grounds: 1. sovereignty and integrity of India 2. security of the State 3. friendly relations with foreign states 4. public order 5. decency or morality 6. contempt of court 7. defamation 8. incitement to an offence

• Kaushal Kishor (2023) held this list complete; no new grounds can be added.

• Romesh Thappar case (1950): the Court struck down a ban on a journal entering Madras, because "public safety" was not a 19(2) ground. This led to the 1st Amendment, 1951, which added public order, friendly relations, incitement and the word "reasonable". The 16th Amendment, 1963 added sovereignty and integrity.

• Sedition: the colonial crime of exciting hatred against the government, under IPC s.124A.
• Kedar Nath Singh case (1962): upheld the law but read it down to cover only words that incite violence or public disorder.
• It was put on hold in 2022 (S.G. Vombatkere).
• Law Commission Report No. 279 (2023) suggested keeping it with safeguards.

• The BNS, 2023 (in force 1 July 2024) dropped it but added s.152 on acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity. Critics call s.152 sedition by another name.

• Criminal defamation: defamation punished as a crime, now BNS s.356. It was upheld in Subramanian Swamy (2016) as protecting reputation under Art. 21.

• Shreya Singhal case (2015): struck down IT Act s.66A (offensive online messages) as vague and too broad. Discussion and advocacy are protected; only incitement can be curbed. Blocking under s.69A was upheld.
• Current issues: hate speech (BNS s.196); the IT Rules 2021 fact-check unit, struck down by the Bombay HC in 2024 (verify current).

6. Assembly, association, movement and occupation; protests and shutdowns

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• Freedom of assembly (Art. 19(1)(b)): citizens may meet peaceably and without arms. It can be limited for public order and for sovereignty and integrity.
• Prohibitory order: a magistrate's order barring gatherings in an area to prevent danger. CrPC s.144 is now BNSS s.163. NCERT warns that bans on "five or more persons" can smother genuine protest.
• Right to protest: comes from Arts. 19(1)(a) and (b). Public ways cannot be occupied indefinitely (Amit Sahni, 2020, the Shaheen Bagh case).
• Freedom of association (Art. 19(1)(c)): citizens may form associations, unions and cooperatives. It can be limited for public order, morality and integrity.
• Right to strike: not a fundamental right. Government employees have no fundamental, legal or moral right to strike (T.K. Rangarajan, 2003).
• Freedom of movement (Art. 19(1)(d)) and freedom of residence (Art. 19(1)(e)): citizens may move anywhere in India and live or settle anywhere. Both can be limited in the general public interest or to protect Scheduled Tribes, for example through Inner Line permits and tribal land laws (Dongria Kondh, Class 7, The State, the Government, and You).
• Freedom of profession (Art. 19(1)(g)): citizens may follow any profession, trade or business. The State may set qualifications, impose reasonable limits or run a business as a monopoly (1st Amendment). There is no right to trade in liquor (Khoday Distilleries, 1995).
• Anuradha Bhasin case (January 2020, Jammu and Kashmir shutdown):
• Speech and trade through the internet are protected by Art. 19.
• Internet suspensions must be published, temporary, proportionate and open to review.
• Section 144 orders must be reasoned.

• Suspension powers now sit in the Telecommunications Act, 2023 (verify current).

• Right to access the internet: the Kerala HC recognised it in Faheema Shirin (2019). The Supreme Court has not declared it a standalone fundamental right.

• Doctrine of proportionality: the test for whether a limit on a right is fair (Modern Dental College, 2016; Puttaswamy, 2017). The limit must: 1. pursue a legitimate aim; 2. be suitable for that aim; 3. be necessary, meaning the least restrictive option; 4. not burden the right more than the aim is worth.

7. Life and personal liberty I: from Gopalan to Maneka Gandhi and beyond

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• Right to life and personal liberty (Art. 21): "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law." It protects every person, citizen or not, and cannot be suspended in an emergency.
• Procedure established by law (taken from Japan): life or liberty may be taken only through a procedure laid down by a valid law. It differs from due process of law (American), which also asks whether the law itself is fair, just and reasonable.
• A.K. Gopalan case (1950):
• Upheld preventive detention.
• Read "law" as any law the legislature enacted.

• Treated each right as a separate box, unconnected to the others.

• Maneka Gandhi case (1978, passport impounded):

• Procedure must be "right, just and fair".
• Arts. 14, 19 and 21 must be read together.

• This brought due process into Art. 21 in substance.

• Golden triangle: the name for Arts. 14, 19 and 21 working together (Minerva Mills, 1980). A law limiting liberty must satisfy all three.

• Rights read into Art. 21 (life means more than "animal existence"):
• Right to live with human dignity: Francis Coralie Mullin, 1981.
• Right to livelihood: Olga Tellis case (1985, Bombay pavement dwellers; Class 11, Citizenship). People cannot be thrown off their means of living without fair procedure, but there is no right to a job.
• Right to shelter: Shantistar Builders, 1990.
• Right to health: a government hospital that denies timely emergency care violates Art. 21 (Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity, 1996).
• Right to food: the PUCL case (from 2001) turned food schemes into legal entitlements. The NFSA, 2013 is the law that gives it statutory form.
• Right to a clean environment: pollution-free air and water (Subhash Kumar, 1991).

• Right against the adverse effects of climate change: under Arts. 14 and 21 (M.K. Ranjitsinh, 2024, the great Indian bustard case).

• NCERT exercises: about three million urban homeless, with night shelters for under 5% of them; FCI godowns full while people go hungry.

• Debate: transformative constitutionalism (using the Constitution to change society) vs judicial overreach, and positive rights that have no budget behind them.

8. Life and personal liberty II: privacy, autonomy and dignity

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• K.S. Puttaswamy case (24 August 2017): nine judges held unanimously that the right to privacy is part of Art. 21 and Part III.
• It overruled M.P. Sharma (1954) and Kharak Singh (1962).
• Any intrusion on privacy must pass three tests: legality, necessity (a legitimate aim) and proportionality.

• The Aadhaar judgment (2018) upheld the Act but struck down s.57.

• Right to be forgotten: the right to have old or personal information removed or de-linked. High Courts recognise it case by case, and the DPDP Act, 2023 gives a statutory right to erasure. The Act's broad exemptions for the State are criticised (Rules — verify current).

• Navtej Singh Johar case (6 September 2018, five judges): decriminalised consensual same-sex relations between adults by reading down IPC s.377. It overruled Suresh Kumar Koushal (2013).
• Joseph Shine case (27 September 2018): struck down adultery (IPC s.497) as manifestly arbitrary and against women's dignity under Arts. 14, 15 and 21.
• Supriyo Chakraborty case (17 October 2023):
• There is no fundamental right to marry.
• Same-sex marriage was left to Parliament.

• Queer persons' right to form relationships was affirmed.

• Right to marry of one's choice: adults may choose their partners, and interference by khap panchayats (caste councils) is illegal (Shafin Jahan, 2018; Shakti Vahini, 2018).

• Reproductive autonomy: a woman's choices about pregnancy are part of Art. 21. X v. Principal Secretary (2022) extended the 24-week abortion limit to unmarried women.
• Passive euthanasia: withdrawing life support from a terminally ill patient. It is allowed (Aruna Shanbaug, 2011; Common Cause, 2018). Active euthanasia is still illegal.
• Living will: an adult's written instruction refusing life-prolonging treatment in advance. It was recognised in Common Cause (2018), and the procedure was simplified in 2023.
• Vishaka case (13 August 1997): the Court framed binding guidelines against sexual harassment at work, drawing on Arts. 14, 15, 19(1)(g) and 21 and CEDAW. The POSH Act, 2013 replaced them.

9. Rights of the accused and detenus: Articles 20 and 22, and the NHRC

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• Protection in respect of conviction for offences (Art. 20): covers every person and cannot be suspended, even in an emergency (44th Amendment, 1978).
• Ex post facto law (Art. 20(1)): no one can be punished for an act that was not a crime when it was done, or given a heavier penalty than the law then allowed. Civil and tax laws can be retrospective.
• Double jeopardy (Art. 20(2)): no one can be prosecuted and punished twice for the same offence. It applies to courts and judicial tribunals only, not departmental inquiries (Maqbool Hussain, 1953).
• Right against self-incrimination (Art. 20(3)): an accused cannot be forced to be a witness against themselves. Fingerprints and samples are allowed (Kathi Kalu Oghad, 1961).

• Narco-analysis test: drug-induced questioning of a suspect. Involuntary narco-analysis, polygraph (lie-detector) and brain-mapping tests violate Arts. 20(3) and 21 (Selvi, 2010).

• Protection against arrest and detention (Art. 22(1)-(2)): an arrested person must be told the grounds of arrest, may consult a lawyer of their choice and must be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours. These safeguards do not cover enemy aliens or preventive detainees (Art. 22(3)).

• D.K. Basu guidelines (1997): safeguards against custodial torture. They include police identification, an arrest memo, informing a relative and a medical check. Many are now part of the BNSS, 2023.
• Right to speedy trial: part of Art. 21 (Hussainara Khatoon, 1979, on Bihar undertrials). Machal Lalung's 54 years as an undertrial broke it.
• Preventive detention: jailing someone without trial to stop a feared future act, not to punish a past one.
• Detention beyond three months needs an advisory board of persons qualified to be High Court judges (Art. 22(4)). The board decides whether there is enough cause.
• The 44th Amendment's cut to two months was never brought into force (A.K. Roy, 1982).

• The detainee must be told the grounds and allowed to make a representation.

• National Security Act, 1980: central law allowing detention without charge for up to 12 months to protect security, public order or essential supplies.

• Rarest of rare doctrine: the death penalty is constitutional, but only in the "rarest of rare" cases, where life imprisonment is clearly not enough (Bachan Singh, 1980).
• NHRC (Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993):
• It inquires into violations on its own or on petition, visits jails and promotes research.
• It can only recommend; it cannot prosecute.
• (NCERT: chair must be a former CJI; now, after the 2019 amendment: a former CJI or Supreme Court judge, plus three members with at least one woman, and seven heads of national commissions as ex officio members. The term is three years or age 70.)

10. Right against exploitation and the right to education

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• Right against exploitation: the group of Arts. 23 and 24. Both bind private persons.
• Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour (Art. 23):
• Bans the buying and selling of people, begar and other forced labour.

• The State may still require compulsory public service, such as military service, without discrimination.

• Begar: forced labour without pay. Landlords, moneylenders and the rich imposed it in the past (Class 11, Rights in the Indian Constitution).

• Asiad workers case (PUDR v. Union of India, 1982): paying less than the minimum wage is forced labour under Art. 23.
• Bonded labour: work a debtor or their family is forced to give a creditor, for little or no wage, until a debt is repaid. It is still found in brick kilns (Bandhua Mukti Morcha, 1984).
• Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976: frees bonded labourers, cancels their debts and punishes anyone who forces such labour.
• Prohibition of child labour (Art. 24): no child under 14 in factories, mines or hazardous work. The Child and Adolescent Labour Act (1986, amended 2016) goes further:
• It bans all work under 14, except in family enterprises after school and as child artists.

• It bans hazardous work for 14-18-year-olds.

• From directive to right:

• Unni Krishnan case (1993): children up to 14 have a fundamental right to free education under Art. 21.

• 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002: added Art. 21A, rewrote Art. 45 (early childhood care below six) and added the duty in Art. 51A(k) for parents and guardians.

• Right to education (Art. 21A): free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14. It is a positive right: the State must provide, not just hold back.

• Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (in force 1 April 2010):
• neighbourhood schools;
• no capitation fees or screening tests;
• 25% of seats for disadvantaged children in private unaided schools (upheld in 2012; minority schools are exempt, Pramati, 2014).
• NCPCR and SCPCR monitor it (Class 7, The State, the Government, and You, Fig. 6.19).

11. Freedom of religion and the rights of minorities: Articles 25-30

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• Freedom of religion: the group of Arts. 25-28. All of it is subject to public order, morality and health.
• Freedom of conscience (Art. 25(1)): every person may hold any belief or none. Every person may also profess, practise and propagate religion.
• State regulation of religious practice (Art. 25(2)): the State may regulate secular (non-religious) activities linked to religion and make social reforms. Examples: bans on sati, bigamy and human sacrifice, and opening Hindu temples to all castes. Carrying the kirpan is protected.
• Right to propagate religion: the right to spread one's beliefs. It does not include a right to convert others.
• Rev. Stainislaus case (1977): upheld the Odisha (1967) and Madhya Pradesh (1968) laws against conversion by force, fraud or inducement.
• Anti-conversion laws: state laws banning conversion by force, fraud or allurement. Newer laws also cover conversion by marriage and need prior notice to officials, which clashes with Puttaswamy and Shafin Jahan. Challenges are pending (verify current).
• Religious denomination: a group with a common faith, common organisation and a distinct name (Shirur Mutt, 1954).
• Freedom to manage religious affairs (Art. 26): each denomination may run its institutions, manage its religious affairs and own property according to law. The essential religious practices test is covered in secularism.
• Freedom from taxes for promotion of religion (Art. 27): no one can be forced to pay a tax that is spent on promoting a particular religion. Fees for services are allowed. (NCERT says "freedom to pay taxes", which is wrong.)
• Freedom as to religious instruction (Art. 28):
• No religious instruction in institutions wholly funded by the State.

• In recognised or aided institutions, religious instruction or worship needs consent.

• Cultural and educational rights: the group of Arts. 29-30.

• Protection of interests of minorities (Art. 29):
• Any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture may conserve it, not only minorities.

• No citizen can be refused admission to a State-run or aided institution on religion, race, caste or language.

• Right of minorities to establish educational institutions (Art. 30): religious and linguistic minorities may set up and run schools and colleges of their choice. The State cannot discriminate against them in giving aid.

• Minority status is judged state by state (T.M.A. Pai, 2002).
• The State cannot impose quotas on unaided minority institutions (P.A. Inamdar, 2005).
• Hukam Singh (26 May 1949) urged the majority to understand minorities' fears.

12. Constitutional remedies: Articles 32 and 226, the writs and the courts as protectors

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• Right to constitutional remedies (Art. 32): a fundamental right to go straight to the Supreme Court to enforce fundamental rights. Ambedkar called it the "heart and soul" of the Constitution.
• It cannot be suspended except through Art. 359.

• Judicial review is part of the basic structure (L. Chandra Kumar, 1997).

• Writ: a formal court order telling an authority to do or not do something. There are five types:

Writ	Meaning	Key point
Habeas corpus	"to have the body": produce the detained person; release them if detention is unlawful	Lies against public authorities and private persons
Mandamus	"we command": perform a legal duty	Not against the President, Governors or private persons
Writ of prohibition	stop a lower court or tribunal going beyond its jurisdiction	Preventive: issued while the case is still pending; not against administrative bodies
Certiorari	"to be certified": move a case up from, or quash an order of, a lower court, tribunal or authority	Corrective: issued after the order is made; NCERT mentions only "transfer"
Quo warranto	"by what authority": prove the right to hold a public office	Any person may seek it (P.J. Thomas as CVC, quashed 2011)

• Writ jurisdiction of High Courts (Art. 226): wider than Art. 32.

	Art. 32	Art. 226
Purpose	Fundamental rights only	Fundamental rights "and for any other purpose"
Nature	Itself a fundamental right	Discretionary (the court may refuse)
Reach	Whole of India	The High Court's territory, or where the cause of action arose

• Compensatory jurisprudence: courts can order the State to pay money for violating fundamental rights. It began with Rudul Sah (1983), who was kept in jail 14 years after acquittal. Nilabati Behera (1993) held that sovereign immunity is no defence.
• Other protectors: the NHRC, national commissions for women, minorities and SCs, civil-liberty groups such as PUCL and PUDR, and the judiciary as "watchdog" (Class 7, The State, the Government, and You).

Landmark cases

Case	Year	Article	Principle
A.K. Gopalan	1950	21, 22	Any enacted procedure is enough; each right a separate box
Romesh Thappar	1950	19(1)(a)	Press freedom; led to the 1st Amendment
Kedar Nath Singh	1962	19(2)	Sedition read down to incitement to violence
Kesavananda Bharati	1973	368	Basic structure; property not part of it
Maneka Gandhi	1978	14, 19, 21	Fair, just, reasonable procedure
Hussainara Khatoon	1979	21	Speedy trial
Bachan Singh	1980	21	Rarest of rare
Asiad workers (PUDR)	1982	23	Wages below the minimum = forced labour
Olga Tellis	1985	21	Livelihood
Vishaka	1997	14, 15, 19, 21	Workplace harassment guidelines
D.K. Basu	1997	21, 22	Arrest safeguards
T.M.A. Pai	2002	30	Minority status judged state-wise
Selvi	2010	20(3), 21	No forced narco-analysis
Shreya Singhal	2015	19(1)(a)	s.66A struck down
K.S. Puttaswamy	2017	21	Privacy is a fundamental right
Navtej Singh Johar	2018	14, 15, 21	s.377 read down
Joseph Shine	2018	14, 15, 21	Adultery struck down
Anuradha Bhasin	2020	19	Internet; proportionality
Supriyo Chakraborty	2023	21	No fundamental right to marry
M.K. Ranjitsinh	2024	14, 21	Climate change

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Exam angles

Prelims — high-yield facts and traps

• Citizens only: Arts. 15, 16, 19, 29, 30. Every person: 14, 20, 21, 21A, 22, 23-28. "Art. 21 is for citizens only" is FALSE.
• Enforceable against private persons: Arts. 15(2), 17, 23, 24. Kaushal Kishor (2023) extended Arts. 19 and 21 to non-State actors.
• Emergency: Arts. 20 and 21 can never be suspended. Art. 19 is suspended automatically (Art. 358) only for war or external aggression, not armed rebellion.
• Article–amendment matches:
• 13(4): 24th, 1971
• 15(4): 1st, 1951
• 15(5): 93rd, 2005
• 15(6) and 16(6): 103rd, 2019
• 16(4A): 77th, 1995
• 16(4B): 81st, 2000
• 19(1)(c) cooperatives: 97th, 2011
• 19(2) grounds: 1st (1951) and 16th (1963)
• 21A: 86th, 2002
• 31A, 31B and the Ninth Schedule: 1st, 1951
• Art. 33 widened: 50th, 1984

• 300A: 44th, 1978

• Writ traps:

• Habeas corpus lies against private persons too.
• Mandamus does not lie against the President, Governors or private persons.
• Prohibition is preventive; certiorari is corrective.
• Anyone may seek quo warranto.

• Art. 226 is wider than Art. 32.

• Case–principle pairs:

• Gopalan (procedure established by law) vs Maneka (due process in substance)
• Puttaswamy overruled M.P. Sharma and Kharak Singh
• Navtej overruled Koushal
• Rev. Stainislaus: no right to convert
• Balaji Raghavan: awards are not titles
• T.M.A. Pai: state is the unit for minority status

• Supriyo: no fundamental right to marry

• Renumbered laws:

• Sedition (IPC s.124A) dropped; BNS s.152 is a different offence.
• Defamation (IPC s.499) is now BNS s.356.
• CrPC s.144 is now BNSS s.163.

• IT Act s.66A struck down in 2015.

• Preventive detention: an advisory board is needed after three months. The 44th Amendment's two-month rule was never notified (brought into force). NSA allows up to 12 months.

• Doctrines: eclipse applies to laws made before the Constitution; fundamental rights cannot be waived; reasonable classification has two tests; proportionality has four prongs.
• NHRC after 2019: the chair may be a former Supreme Court judge, not only a former CJI. Three members, at least one a woman. Seven ex officio commission heads. Term three years or age 70. It cannot prosecute.
• Art. 27 gives freedom from religious taxes. NCERT's "freedom to pay" is FALSE.

Mains — GS-II themes

1. Art. 21 as a store of unlisted rights: transformative constitutionalism vs judicial overreach; positive rights without money; gaps in enforcement on homelessness, hunger and pollution.
2. Free speech in the digital age: from sedition to BNS s.152, the afterlife of s.66A, internet shutdowns, fact-check units, hate speech; proportionality as the standard.
3. Liberty and criminal process: preventive detention, undertrials (Machal Lalung), custodial violence, bail, and the limits of a recommendation-only NHRC.
4. Privacy after Puttaswamy: Aadhaar, surveillance, and the DPDP Act's exemptions for the State.
5. Religion and the State: the essential practices test, anti-conversion laws vs freedom to choose a partner, reform under Art. 25(2).
6. Property's journey from fundamental right to Art. 300A: land acquisition, displacement, the 2024 procedural sub-rights.
7. Rights against private power after Kaushal Kishor: platforms, employers, khap panchayats.
8. Minority educational rights: autonomy vs regulation for standards and access.

Current-affairs hooks

• Internet shutdowns and BNSS s.163 orders during unrest or exams; telecom suspension rules and review committees.
• Supreme Court rulings on Art. 21: demolitions, climate, bail and undertrials, written grounds of arrest; prosecutions under BNS s.152.
• New anti-conversion laws and challenges to them; the committee on entitlements of queer couples.
• NHRC and NCRB data on custodial deaths and undertrials; NHRC appointments and accreditation.
• RTE 25% quota admissions, changes to the no-detention policy, rescues of child and bonded labourers.
• DPDP Rules, data breaches and right-to-be-forgotten petitions.