Page 27 - Constitution
P. 27
70 Years of Indian
Constitution
Over the years, the Supreme Court of
his was the ideal on which our freedom fighters
India has expanded the scope of Article
fought for an independent India. The fundamental
premise was that if we, the citizens of India, had 21 by holding that the right to life is ‘the
T a say in government, then all decisions would be most precious human right which forms
aimed at uplifting the lives of the people. We freed ourselves
from the shackles of colonialism and adopted our own the ark of all other rights’.
written Constitution in 1949. Now, 70 years on, we must ask
ourselves: to what extent have these hopes been achieved? control.”
There are many aspects to be considered in answering The Constitution of India contains a similar guarantee in
such a question. But no answer would be complete if one Article 21. But one would never suspect it to be so, on a
does not take into account the state of the poorest section mere reading of the text of Article 21, which only states that
of citizens. It could be said that poverty rather than foreign ‘No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty
rule lay at the heart of the Indian tragedy. I have repeatedly except according to procedure established by law’. Over the
voiced my view on many public platforms that intense poverty years, the Supreme Court of India has expanded the scope of
is wholly antithetical to the guarantee of human rights of Article 21 by holding that the right to life is ‘the most precious
any individual. Protections against torture and extra judicial human right which forms the ark of all other rights’. In Francis
killings are traditional concepts of human rights, but it is Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi and
abject poverty that can entirely destroy the right to life of an Others [(1981) 1 SCC 608], the Supreme Court declared that:
individual. “…the right to life includes the right to live with human dignity
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights mainly covers and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessaries
a wide variety of human rights, including a statement that of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter and
no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel and inhuman facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself in diverse
treatment or punishment and so on. But tucked away forms, freely moving about and mixing and commingling with
practically at the end of the Declaration is Article 25, which fellow human beings. … it must, in any view of the matter,
reads as follows '' Everyone has the right to a standard of include the right to the basic necessities of life and also the
living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of right to carry on such functions and activities as constitute the
his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care bare minimum expression of the human-self.”
and necessary social services, and the right to security in the One can clearly see that the weighty words in the above
event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old passage are a resounding reflection of Article 25 of the
age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But what is the reality
behind the implementation of Article 21 of our Constitution? It
70 Years of Indian Constitution 27
