Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It certainly is the most important legislation as all other legislations depend upon it for their validity. There are various parts in the Constitution of India comprising of numerous Articles. Specifically, the Constitution consisted of 22 parts and 395 Articles which have further increased. Not all parts may be equally important, however, undoubtedly the Constitution consists of one of the most important part which is highly significant when it comes to the existence of individuals in the territory of India. This is Part 3 of the Constitution consisting of the 6 basic Fundamental Rights.
Introduction
In everyday life we often talk of our rights. Rights are claimed not only in relation to our political and public lives but also in relation to our social and personal relationship. Moreover, rights are claimed not only for adult human beings but also for children, unborn foetuses, and even animals.
In layman language it can be said that: A right is essentially an entitlement or a justified claim.
Right may be broadly classified into moral and legal rights. Moral rights are those rights which are based on the prevailing ethical conceptions of society. They are not guaranteed by the constitution. Whereas, Legal rights are those privileges which are guaranteed by the state through the instrumentality of its legal code.
Legal rights are of two types:
Political Rights: Political rights are those privileges which are created by the Constitution and various other laws of India, which give to the citizens a share in the exercise of the sovereign power of the state.
Example: Right to stand in an election or Right to vote in an election.
Fundamental rights: Those privileges which the nation confers upon its subjects by law and which shall be protected in the courts. These rights are regarded as indispensable conditions of civilized living.
Example – Right to Equality as mentioned in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
How Did Fundamental Rights came in India?
The origin of the concept of Fundamental Rights, which are also known as Natural Rights or Human Rights or Basic Rights or Inalienable Rights, is based on the theory of Natural Law.1 This theory states that there are certain rights which are provided by God to all individuals since their birth and cannot be taken away by anyone except God. The inclusion of a chapter on Fundamental Rights in the Constitution of India is in accordance with the trend of modern democratic thought.2 The declaration of Fundamental Rights in the Constitution thus serves the purpose of reminding the Government in power to respect those rights and limiting the range of activity of the State in appropriate directions.3
In India, the Simon commission and the joint parliamentary committee which were responsible for the Government of India Act, 1935, had rejected the idea of enacting declarations of fundamental rights on the ground that “abstract declarations are useless, unless there exist the will and the means to make them effective”. But nationalist opinion, since the time of the Nehru Report, was definitely in favour of a Bill of Rights, because the experience gathered from the British regime was that a subservient Legislature might serve as a handmaid to the Executive in committing inroads upon individual liberty.
Regardless of the British opinion, therefore, the makers of our Constitution adopted fundamental Rights to safeguard individual liberty and also for ensuring (together with Directive Principles) social, economic and political justice for every member of the community. That they have succeeded in this testimony of an ardent observer of the Indian Constitution.4
In the Constitution of India, Fundamental rights have been mentioned in part III under Articles 12 to 35. Framers of the Constitution borrowed this from the Constitution of USA (i.e., Bill of Rights). Part III of the Indian Constitution is also known as Magna Carta5 of India.
Here it is important to note that :- The Fundamental Rights in our constitution are more elaborated than those found in the Constitution of any other country in the world, including that of the USA. They are guaranteed by the Constitution without any discrimination. They are often titled the most sacred if not the most important part of the constitution.
The Fundamental Rights
Originally, there were seven fundamental rights in the Constitution of India, but in the 44th Amendment Act, 1978, Right to Property (earlier article 31) remained no more a Fundamental Right and became a legal right under Article 300A. So as of now, there are six fundamental rights in the Constitution. They are:
• Right to equality (Article 14-18)
• Right to freedom (Article 19-22)
• Right to against exploitation (Article 23-24)
• Right to freedom of religion (Article 25-28)
• Cultural and Educational Rights (Article 29-30)
• Right to Constitutional Remedies (Article 32)
Importance of Fundamental Right in today’s scenario
Imagine, you are denied a seat in any regular college, or for no reason, you got arrested, or you are restricted from the right to profess, practice or propagate your religion, or you couldn't get a job because you belong to a particular caste or religion. Further, imagine that the State makes a law to take your life away the very next day. How would you feel? Was this unjust and unequal?
The Fundamental Rights are guaranteed to Indian citizens to safeguard them against such practices. They are meant to protect us from such oppressive practices and also act as a means to redress the violation of Fundamental Rights (The Right to Constitutional Remedies). Without such laws in place, India could never be termed as democratic country. Most of the Fundamental Rights are nothing more than common and reasonable sense. They do not require wide Interpretation and uncountable case laws to comprehend them, rather prudent sense plays a huge role in their comprehension.
Every single human needs few basic rights in order to live with human dignity. Fundamental rights are the package of those basic rights. There are certain more rights as well like legal rights, constitutional rights, and etc. but none can be compared to Fundamental Rights. Fundamental Rights constitute the backbone of the nation.
Though Fundamental Rights are not absolute and are subject to reasonable limitations but in turn those reasonable restrictions are subject to judicial review.
Before ending this, let me ask you one question, did you ever thought that why one go to court? To have compensations? To get other side punished? No. Then why?
Just because his/her fundamental rights gets violated. Yes. If one is getting beaten up or if one is has been raped or if one is not allowed to sit in bus because he belongs to a particular community or one is not allowed to enter in temple or mosque because of gender. In this case, he or she will directly go to court to get fundamental rights enforced and Court has to do the same.
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