- ANUBHOOTI SHAW
"Human rights are a fine thing, but how can we make ourselves sure that our rights do not expand at the expense of the rights of others. A society with unlimited rights is incapable of standing to adversity. If we do not wish to be ruled by a coercive authority, then each of us must rein himself in... A stable society is achieved not by balancing opposing forces but by conscious self-limitation: by the principle that we are always duty-bound to defer to the sense of moral justice."
- ALEKSANDR I. SOLZHENITSYN
INTRODUCTION
The powerful pillar of the Preamble is enough to state that the rights are preserved in the country. The Indian Constitution is the longest written Constitution of the world. The declaration by the Preamble that the country is SOVEREIGN, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC and REPUBLIC garnished with JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY is not only astonishing but also filled with diversity. Constitution being the Supreme Law of the subcontinent, it also maintains the integrity and national security of the land. It is obviously known to everyone that some parts of the constitution is borrowed from different countries. The fundamental rights for our supreme law were borrowed from the United States of America. Fundamental rights constitute Part III of the Constitution of India. These rights were born in France’s Declaration of Bill of Rights of Man (1789), England’s Bill of Rights (1689), Development of the Irish Constitution (1937), as well as, United States of America’s Bill of Rights (1791) and not to forget the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDP).
These fundamental rights form the basic structure of this legal document. It was observed during the case of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala [1] that the fundamental rights cannot be amended and the laws which are inconsistent with the basic structure can be declared to be void.
Fundamental rights include the following ingredients:
● Right to Equality (Article 14 to 18),
● Right to Freedom (Article 19 to 22),
● Right against exploitation (Article 23 and 24),
● Right to freedom of religion (Article 25 to 28),
● Cultural and Educational rights (Article 29 to 30),
● Right to property (Article 31),
● Right to Constitutional remedies (Article 32).
Later in the 44th Amendment Act of 1978, the right to property was scrapped to diminish the line between poor and the rich with regard to property. These fundamental rights are meant to be universal throughout without discriminating on the basis of sex, caste, gender, race and place of birth. Out of all the rights Article 14, Article 19 and Article 21 are the three rights which incorporate the golden triangle.
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
Article 14
"Equality before law. —The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India."
Article 19
"Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech, etc.— (1) All citizens shall have the
right—
(a) to freedom of speech and expression;
(b) to assemble peaceably and without arms;
(c) to form associations or unions 2
[or co-operative societies];
(d) to move freely throughout the territory of India;
(e) to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; 3
[and]
4
* * * * *
(g) to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
5
[(2) Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of 6
[the sovereignty and integrity of India,] the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.]
(3) Nothing in sub-clause (b) of the said clause shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it imposes, or prevent the State from making any law imposing, in the interests of 6
[the sovereignty and integrity of India or] public order, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said
sub-clause.
(4) Nothing in sub-clause (c) of the said clause shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it imposes, or prevent the State from making any law imposing, in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India or public order or morality, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause.
(5) Nothing in 1
[sub-clauses (d) and (e)] of the said clause shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it imposes, or prevent the State from making any law imposing, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of any of the rights conferred by the said sub-clauses either in the interests of the general public or for the protection of the interests of any Scheduled Tribe.
(6) Nothing in sub-clause (g) of the said clause shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it imposes, or prevent the State from making any law imposing, in the interests of the general public, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause, and, in particular,
[nothing in the said sub-clause shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it relates to, or prevent the State from making any law relating to, —
(i) the professional or technical qualifications necessary for practising any profession or carrying on any occupation, trade or business, or
(ii) the carrying on by the State, or by a corporation owned or controlled by the State, of any trade, business, industry or service, whether to the exclusion, complete or partial, of citizens or otherwise]."
Article 21
"Protection of life and personal liberty. —No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law."
Anyone who reads the above articles will definitely understand why these articles are regarded as the golden triangle because underlying basic human rights that help a person to live with respect and dignity. And being a social animal, it is very vital that these rights are preserved.
Article 14 interprets two principles which are equality in the eyes of law and equal protection of law. The first phrase i.e., equality in the eyes of law means that the state would not deny to any person equality of law. Any person who is living within the territory of India is equal before the law. There will be no discrimination on the basis of sex, caste, religion, race of place of birth. The second phrase i.e., equal protection of law means that every person will be entitled to protection provided by the laws. This serves as a positive obligation [2] on the state so that it can bring necessary changes related to society and economy which will be enjoyed by everyone equally. This right is available for the citizens of India and for non-citizens as well.
Article 19 is one of the most important articles in the whole document. It enables every person with some essential rights which are crucial for living human beings to survive. Essential rights were total seven in number before but now there are six. All the rights are:
● The freedom of speech and expression;
● The freedom to assemble peaceably without arms;
● The freedom to form associations or unions;
● The freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India;
● The freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India;
● This was omitted by the 44th Amendment Act. (right to acquire, hold and dispose of property)
● The freedom to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India it was observed that freedom of speech and expression has no geographical boundaries and which interprets with the right of a citizen to gather information and to exchange the thought process with others not only in India but in foreign countries also.
Though there are so many rights, they are not absolute in nature. There are eight restrictions as well. Restrictions are meant to maintain the peace, harmony, integrity and national security of the nation. These are:
Security of the nation,
Friendly relations with the foreign states,
Maintenance of Public Order,
Decency or morality should be kept,
Contempt of Court,
Defamation,
Incitement to offence,
Sovereignty and integrity of India.
And these restrictions were challenged in the case of Romesh Thapar vs. State of Madras [3]. In this case, an English journal named 'Cross Road' was banned by the Government of Madras. The Supreme Court said that the freedom of speech and expression cannot violate or undermine the security of a state. Thus, it was said that the freedom of speech and expression were not absolute in nature. The freedom of press is therefore incorporated in the word 'expression' and now also, this article remains suspended at the time of proclamation of emergency under article 352 of the Constitution.
Article 21 covers two rights which are most important for a living thing. Those two rights are right to life and right to personal liberty. The word 'life' under the articles include the right to shelter, nourishment and growth as well. These are included because life would be meaningless if all those factors are not there. Here, life not only means human life but also the environmental life. It is our responsibility to nurture and preserve the environment as much as possible. Protection of the environment will also support great human life. This can be achieved by planting more trees and using pollution free products.
The right to clean environment was argued in Subhash Kumar vs. State of Bihar [4]. The petitioner alleged that illegal limestone mining in the Mussoorie-Dehradun region caused immense damage to the weak ecosystem in the region. This petition was considered as a PIL under Article 32 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court held that the right to a healthy environment is a part of the fundamental right to life under Article 21. Municipalities and other concerned governmental organizations and agencies have no content and unimplemented measures for the abatement and prevention of every type of pollution. The government must take positive measures to improve the quality of the environment.
CONCLUSION
Though the fundamental rights are challenged at every step but then also they are one of the rigid and most vital laws a country can have. The Constitution makers had kept in mind the concepts of freedom and restriction in an elaborated way so that a person neither gets restricted by enforcing rights on them nor receives the freedom to violate or exploit the fabric of the society. Keeping in consideration the socio-economic scenario of the country and the colonization, the makers have also included a set of fundamental duties (Part IV-A) in Article 51A which are on the part of the citizens to abide by. The rights and duties go parallel with each other and are complementary in nature.
Thus, our basic structure is one of the best and most rigid set of rights in the world.
FOOTNOTES
[1] AIR 1973 SC 1461
[2] St. Stephen’s College v. University of Delhi, (1992) 1 SCC 558: AIR 1992 SC 1630:1991 Supp (3) SCR 121.
[3] 1950 AIR 124, 1950 SCR 594
[4] AIR 1991 SC 420
REFERENCES
● The Constitution of India
● Why are articles 14 ,19 and 21 regarded as the Golden Triangle in the Indian Constitution?
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-articles-14-19-and-21-regarded-as-the-Golden-Triangle-in-the-Indian-Constitution
● https://dashamlav.com/golden-triangle-jurisprudence-article-14-19-and-21-of-indian-constitution/
● https://5thvoice.news/legalnews/NzI2NA==/The-Golden-Triangle-of-the-Constitution
● https://indiankanoon.org/search/?formInput=article%2014%2C%2019%20and%2021&pagenum=7
● Fundamental Rights: The Golden Triangle
https://advocatespedia.com/Fundamental_Rights:_The_Golden_Triangle