Fundamental Rights

The rules:

• Article 12 defines the State for Part III: the Government and Parliament of India, the Government and Legislature of each State, and all local or other authorities in India or under the control of the Government of India.
• Article 13: a law that takes away or cuts down a Fundamental Right is void to that extent.
• Citizens only: Articles 15, 16, 19, 29 and 30.
• Every person, foreigners included: Articles 14, 20, 21, 22 and 23 to 28.
• A right can be broken by what a government authority does and also by what it fails to do when the Constitution puts a duty on it.
• Most rights carry reasonable restrictions; very few are absolute.
• Articles 31A and 31C save certain laws (land reform, laws giving effect to some Directive Principles) from challenge under Articles 14 and 19. Article 31B protects the laws in the Ninth Schedule.

The five Articles:

• Article 14: equality before the law and equal protection of the laws, for every person.
• Article 15: no discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Clause 15(2) covers shops, public restaurants, wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort.
• Article 15(5), added by the 93rd Amendment (2005): special provisions for admission of SC, ST and backward classes to educational institutions, aided or unaided, except minority institutions under Article 30.
• Article 16: equality of opportunity in public employment.
• Article 17: untouchability is abolished. The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 give it force.
• Article 18: titles are abolished (military and academic distinctions are allowed).

The four Articles:

• Article 19(1), citizens only, six freedoms: speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to form associations or unions; to move freely in India; to reside and settle anywhere in India; to practise any profession or carry on any trade or business.
• The right to acquire and dispose of property was taken out of Article 19 by the 44th Amendment (1978). Property is now a legal right under Article 300A.
• Article 19(2) lists the grounds for limiting speech: sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, contempt of court, defamation, incitement to an offence.
• Article 20: no punishment under a law made after the act (ex post facto), no heavier punishment than the law then allowed, no double jeopardy (20(2)), no compelled self-incrimination (20(3)). A confession made freely can still be used.
• Article 21: life and personal liberty. The courts read it to include dignity, the identity of transgender persons and the choice of a life partner.
• Article 21A: free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14, added by the 86th Amendment (2002).
• Article 22: protection on arrest, and the rules for preventive detention.

The Articles:

• Article 23: no traffic in human beings, no begar (unpaid forced work), no forced labour.
• Article 24: no child below 14 in a factory, mine or other hazardous work.
• Article 25: freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion, for every person, subject to public order, morality and health.
• Article 26: a religious denomination may manage its own religious affairs, again subject to public order, morality and health. It is not absolute.
• Article 29: any section of citizens may conserve its own language, script or culture.
• Article 30: minorities based on religion or language may set up and run educational institutions of their choice.
• Rights that look similar but are not in Part III: workers' participation in management of industries (Article 43A, a Directive Principle).