2.7 Fundamental Rights notes

1. 2.7.1Fundamental Rights: overview and features

   Fundamental Rights are the rights in Part III (Articles 12–35) that the Constitution guarantees to people against the State, and that courts can enforce.

   Advanced · 6 min · Full course
2. 2.7.2Article 12 (State) and Article 13 (laws void)

   Article 12 decides who counts as "the State" that must respect Fundamental Rights, and Article 13 makes any law that violates those rights void.

   Advanced · 6 min · Full course
3. 2.7.3Article 14: equality before law

   Article 14 says the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

   Advanced · 6 min · Full course
4. 2.7.4Articles 15–16: non-discrimination and reservation

   Article 15 bars the State from discriminating against citizens, and Article 16 guarantees equal opportunity in public jobs. Both allow special provisions, including reservation, for disadvantaged groups.

   Advanced · 8 min · Full course
5. 2.7.5Articles 17–18: untouchability and titles

   Article 17 abolishes untouchability and makes its practice an offence, and Article 18 abolishes titles other than military and academic distinctions.

   Advanced · 5 min · Full course
6. 2.7.6Article 19: the six freedoms

   Article 19 gives every citizen six freedoms (speech, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession), each of which the State can limit only on the grounds listed in the Article itself.

   Advanced · 6 min · Full course
7. 2.7.7Article 20: protection in respect of conviction

   Article 20 protects an accused person in three ways: no punishment under a retrospective criminal law, no double punishment for the same offence, and no compulsion to be a witness against oneself.

   Advanced · 4 min · Full course
8. 2.7.8Articles 21 and 21A: life, liberty and education

   Article 21 says no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law, and the courts have read it to include a dignified life with dozens of rights. Article 21A makes free education for children aged 6–14 a Fundamental Right.

   Advanced · 7 min · Full course
9. 2.7.9Article 22: arrest and preventive detention

   Article 22 gives safeguards to people who are arrested under ordinary law, and fewer, separate safeguards to people held under preventive detention laws.

   Advanced · 6 min · Full course
10. 2.7.10Articles 23–24: right against exploitation

    Article 23 bans trafficking in human beings, begar and forced labour, and Article 24 bans employing children below 14 in factories, mines and other hazardous work.

    Advanced · 5 min · Full course
11. 2.7.11Articles 25–28: freedom of religion

    Articles 25–28 protect every person's freedom of conscience and religion and each denomination's right to manage its affairs, while keeping the State from taxing for, or teaching, any one religion.

    Advanced · 6 min · Full course
12. 2.7.12Articles 29–30: cultural and educational rights

    Article 29 lets any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture conserve it, and Article 30 lets religious and linguistic minorities set up and run their own educational institutions.

    Advanced · 6 min · Full course
13. 2.7.13Article 32 and the writs

    Article 32 lets a person go directly to the Supreme Court to enforce Fundamental Rights, and the Court enforces them by issuing writs such as habeas corpus and mandamus.

    Advanced · 6 min · Full course
14. 2.7.14Articles 31A–31C, 33–35 and limits on Fundamental Rights

    The Constitution itself limits Fundamental Rights in several places: it saves certain laws from challenge (Articles 31A–31C), lets Parliament restrict rights of the forces and under martial law (Articles 33–34), and gives Parliament alone some powers to make laws on rights (Article 35).

    Advanced · 6 min · Full course
15. 2.7.15Right to property: from Article 31 to Article 300A

    Property was a Fundamental Right under Articles 19(1)(f) and 31 until the 44th Amendment of 1978 moved it to Article 300A, where it is a constitutional right that only a law can take away.

    Advanced · 6 min · Full course

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