ARTICLE 14 & 15, CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

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       ARTICLE 14 & 15

      CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

                                 (With respect to Human Rights)

 

 

 

 

                                                             ABHIRA SHUKLA

                                                  B.Sc., LL.B

                           DR. BHIM RAO AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY, AGRA

 

 

 

 

 

v ARTICLE 14 & 15 IN INDIA:

 



The Preamble of the Indian Constitution is the stepping stone which clearly states that India is a democratic, secular, republic nation whose primary duty is to protect the interest of the people of its country. To protect its interest of his, it has given some rights i.e. fundamental rights to its citizens. These rights are for the upliftment of those sections in the society who are the poorest of the poor, neglected and oppressed. These fundamental rights in the constitution were taken from different sources like England’s bill of rights, France’s declaration of rights of man and the US bill of rights (kairali, n.d.).

Talking about the fundamental rights, there are six fundamental rights which have been given to the citizens of India whereas Article 14 is also given to any person i.e. Non-Indian. Here we will discuss articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India. Article 14 interpret as “Equality before the law” and “Equal protection of laws”. Article 15 regarding “Non-discrimination” on certain grounds like, Race, Religion, Caste, Sex and Place of birth. So here we can say discrimination is contrary to the principles of equality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v OVERVIEW OF ARTICLE 14:


Article 14 of constitution states, “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, Prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, caste, sex or place of birth” (law, n.d.).

According to Professor Jennings, “Equality before the law means that among equals the law should be equal and should be equally administered that like should be treated alike” (Karanure, 2022).

 

·       The word ‘any person’ in article 14 includes any company or association or body of an individual, non-citizen to natural person as well as legal persons.

 

·       In India, there is a ‘Rule of Law’ which was perfectly explained by Dicey which was described under three meanings of rule of law as follows (Karanure, 2022):

1. Absence of Arbitrary power or supremacy of law.

2. Equality before the law.

3. The constitution is the result of the ordinary law of the land (Karanure, 2022).

In case of State of West Bengal vs. Anwar Ali Sarkar, the question put forward that if the right to equality is absolute right or not (M.P.Sastri, indiankanoon, n.d.).

In this landmark case the SC held that the right to equality is not an absolute right. In this case, the State of Bengal was found to use its power arbitrarily to refer any case to the special court which was made by them so, the act of State of Bengal infringement the right to equality.

 

 

v OVERVIEW OF ARTICLE 15:

 

Abundant cases of discrimination which are based on a different variables can be seen. The majority of them consist of caste and religion. On the other hand in patriarchal society, we have encountered gender discrimination from the beginning, which includes women as well as LGBTQA+ individuals. However, decriminalisation of section 377 of IPC is the initiative to give recognition to the LGBTQA+ community.

 

·       ARTICLE 15(1) of the Indian Constitution, 1949 states that “there should be no discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth.

In the landmark case D.P. Joshi vs. State of Madhya Bharat (1955), it was held that it was valid as a rule of the state medical college whereby the Non-Madhya Bharat students required a withholding fee for admission to the college, in this case it was held that it does not violate Article 15(1) on the ground of residence (B.K.Mukherjee, n.d.).

 

 

 

·       ARTICLE 15(2) states that an individual shall not be subjected to restriction, any disability or any other form of discrimination concerning to his/her religion. It was invoked in Nainsukhdas vs. State of U.P (M.P.Sastri, indiankanoon.org, n.d.).

 

·       ARTICLE 15(3), under this clause the state may not prevent itself from making any provision or special provision concerning to women and children. Recently, in the case of Joseph Shine vs. Union of India, Adultery was decriminalised and it can only be used as a basis for divorce (indiankanoon, n.d.).

 

·       ARTICLE 15(4), this provision added by the first amendment to the constitution which gives the state the authority to establish a specific arrangements for (i) Backward classes of citizens (ii) Schedule Class (iii) Schedule Tribe. In the historic case State of Madras vs. C. Dorairajan (Das, n.d.) the SC ruled that Article 15(4) is purely based on caste, it said article 15(4) does not contain any reservation based on the phrases backwards and backward classes, nor does it give any classification based on the same term hence Madras Govt. order is void.       

 

·       ARTICLE 15(5) was inserted by the 93rd Amendment Act, 2005. It states that the state should make provision for reservation of socially and educationally backward classes of citizen. In the landmark case of Ashok Kumar Thakur vs. Union of India (2008) (wikipedia, n.d.), SC held that this clause is completely constitutional. The 27% reservation to OBC candidates for admission in higher institutions like IITs and IIMs is constitutional and does not violate article 14. “The idea of Creamy layer” was established under this clause in the landmark case, Indira Sawhney vs. Union of India.

 

 

 

 

·       ARTICLE 15(6), this clause is inserted in 2019 by the 103rd Amendment, where the government authority has to establish specific provision for betterment and uplifting “economically weaker groups” of society i.e. 10% reservation must be set aside for EWs.

By looking at all the provisions provided under these clauses we can say that these act as a shield against discrimination which protects the oppressed and neglected.

 

v HUMAN RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO ARTICLE 14 &15:

 

Human rights are the primary rights which are given to any person by birth irrespective of their nationality, religion, language, sex, etc.

Human rights can be defined under the “Protection of Human Rights Act”, as “any rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of individual guaranteed by the constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India” (Shekhar, 2020).

 

While drafting the constitution of India, the framers covered the rights provided in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in our constitution either in fundamental rights or Directive Principle of State Policy.

 

·      International Human Rights and Article 14:

 

On January 01/1942, India signed the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Shekhar, 2020). Some provisions of the UDHR are quite similar to article 14 of the constitution of India. Article 14 of constitution is similar to Article 7 of UDHR which state as all people are equal before the law i.e. treat everyone fairly and they are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination.

 

 

 

·       International Covenant on Political and Civil Righ,1966 (ICCPR) AND Article 14 & 15:

 

Articles 14 and 15 are similar to the civil and political rights contained in ICCPR, 1966. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer observed that though a provision is present in ICCPR but not in Indian Constitution does not make the covenant an enforceable part of ‘Corpus Juris’ in India in the case of Jolly George Varghese & Anr vs. Bank of Cochin.

 

Article 14 is similar to article 14(1) of ICCPR which stated “All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals”.

 

Article 15 and 14 of the constitution is similar to Article 26 of ICCPR which emphasises on equality and equal protection before the law and no discrimination based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, etc.

 

 

v Citizenship Amendment Act and violation of Article 14:

 

Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 brought to grant Indian citizenship to illegal immigrants from six minority groups from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who arrived prior to December 2014 in fear of religious ‘persecution’. However, it removes Muslims from the list of these countries who are persecuted for their faith. CAA violates Article 14 as well as the concept of Secularism which directly breaches the notion of ‘Basic structure doctrine’ in the constitution.


 

                       

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

v CONCLUSION:

 

The Constitution of India lays down the foundation to protect the rights of its citizen which on occasion includes natural or human rights under the sect of fundamental rights. These fundamental rights allow an individual to live with dignity and promote the idea of a secular state. As we can see under article 15, breaking the wall of discrimination to treat everyone on the same parameter with just and equity. Sometimes when we talk about discrimination it amounts to infringement of human rights it occurred to United Nations though the discrimination is defined but it usually depends on case to case, to that the committee suggested the ‘reasonable and objective’ test for better understanding (government, n.d.). Article 14 talks about equality no matter to what religion, race, sex, status etc. he/she belongs.

However, human right is a wider term in comparison to the fundamental right as the human rights are internationally recognised while these fundamental rights we have read are limited to the Indian citizen or to a nation.   

Works Cited

 

B.K.Mukherjee. (n.d.). indiankanoon.org. Retrieved from https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/human-rights-and-anti-discrimination/human-rights-scrutiny/public-sector-guidance-sheets/rights-equality-and-non-discrimination

Das, S. R. (n.d.). indiankanoon.org. Retrieved from https://indiankanoon.org/doc/149321/#:~:text=On%20June%207%2C%201950%2C%20Srimathi,of%20mandamus%20or%20other%20suitable

government, a. (n.d.). attorney general's department. Retrieved from https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/human-rights-and-anti-discrimination/human-rights-scrutiny/public-sector-guidance-sheets/rights-equality-and-non-discrimination

IEAG. (n.d.). Inclusive Education Action Group. Retrieved from ieag: https://ieag.org.nz/voices/human-rights-in-aotearoa-new-zealand/

indiankanoon. (n.d.). indiankaoon.org. Retrieved from indiankanoon: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/42184625/

kairali. (n.d.). Retrieved from Legal Services India: https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-2754-article-14-and-15-of-the-indian-constitution-eradicate-discrimination-and-bring-equality.html

Karanure, H. (2022, june 2). manupartra. Retrieved from https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/Article-14-Equality-Before-Law-and-Equality-protection-of-the-law

Kashinath, P. (2019, 12 23). counter current.org. Retrieved from counter currents.org: https://countercurrents.org/2019/12/government-fails-to-establish-the-legality-of-the-citizenship-amendment-act-2019/

law, c. g. (n.d.). indiankaoon.org. Retrieved from https://indiankanoon.org/doc/367586/

M.P.Sastri. (n.d.). indiankanoon. Retrieved from https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/Article-14-Equality-Before-Law-and-Equality-protection-of-the-law

M.P.Sastri. (n.d.). indiankanoon.org. Retrieved from https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1101047/

Shekhar, P. (2020, october 4). ipleader. Retrieved from blog: https://blog.ipleaders.in/human-rights-constitution-india/

union, O. j. (2007, 12 14). European Union Agency for fundamental rights. Retrieved from FRA: https://fra.europa.eu/en/eu-charter/article/21-non-discrimination

wikipedia. (n.d.). wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_Kumar_Thakur_v._Union_of_India#:~:text=On%2010%20April%202008%2C%20the,not%20to%20be%20included%20in.

work, P. a. (n.d.). Ministry of Women and Child Development, GOI. Retrieved from Government of India: https://poshatwork.com/no-discrimination/

 

 

     

 

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