RESEARCH PAPER

LAWS CURBING INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS IN INDIA

POLITICAL SCIENCE

NAME: HETVI PATEL

ROLL NO. 27

DIVISION: A

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INTRODUCTION:

What are individual rights?

Individual rights are the rights needed by each individual to pursue their lives and goals without
interference from other individuals or the government. The rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness as stated in the United States Declaration of Independence are typical examples
of individual rights.

Individual rights are those considered so essential that they warrant specific statutory protection
from interference. While the U.S. Constitution, for example, divides and restricts the powers
of the federal and state governments to check their own and each other’s power, it also
expressly ensures and protects certain rights and liberties of individuals from government
interference. Most of these rights, such as the First Amendment’s prohibition of government
actions that limit the freedom of speech and the Second Amendment's protection of the right
to keep and bear arms, are enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Other individual rights, however, are
established throughout the Constitution, such as the right to trial by jury in Article III and
the Sixth Amendment, and the Due Process of Law Clause found in the post-Civil
War Fourteenth Amendment.

Many individual rights protected by the Constitution deal with criminal justice, such as
the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable governmental searches and seizures
and the Fifth Amendment’s well-known right against self-incrimination. Other individual
rights are established by the U.S. Supreme Court in its interpretations of the often vaguely
worded rights found in the Constitution.

Individual rights are often considered in contrast to group rights, the rights of groups based on
the enduring characteristics of their members. Examples of group rights include the rights of
an indigenous people that its culture should be respected and the rights of a religious group that
it should be free to engage in collective expressions of its faith and that its sacred sites and
symbols should not be desecrated.

Difference between rights and individual rights:

The constitution of a democracy guarantees the rights of the people. A right is a person’s
justifiable claim, protected by law, to act or be treated in a certain way. For example, the

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constitutions of democracies throughout the world guarantee the political rights of individuals,
such as the rights of free speech, press, assembly, association, and petition. These rights must
be guaranteed in order for there to be free, fair, competitive, and periodic elections by the
people of their representatives in government, which is a minimal condition for the existence
of a democracy.

If a democracy is to be maintained from one election to the next, then the political rights of
parties and persons outside the government must be constitutionally protected in order for there
to be authentic criticism and opposition of those in charge of the government. Thus, the losers
in one election can use their political rights to gain public support and win the next election.

In addition to political rights, the constitutions of democracies throughout the world protect the
rights of people accused of crimes from arbitrary or abusive treatment by the government.
Individuals are guaranteed due process of law in their dealings with the government. Today,
constitutional democracies protect the personal and private rights of all individuals under their
authority. These rights include:

• freedom of conscience or belief

• free exercise of religion

• privacy in one’s home or place of work from unwarranted or unreasonable intrusions

by the government

• ownership and use of private property for personal benefit

• general freedom of expression by individuals, so long as they do not interfere with or

impede unjustly the freedom or well-being of others in the community

A turning point in the history of constitutionally protected rights was the founding of the United
States of America in the late 18th century. The United States was born with a declaration of
independence that proclaimed as a self-evident truth that every member of the human species
was equal in possession of “certain unalienable rights” among which are the rights to “Life,
Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

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The founders declared that the primary reason for establishing a government is “to secure these
rights.” And, if governments would act legitimately to protect the rights of individuals, then
they must derive “their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.” Further, if the
government established by the people fails to protect their rights and acts abusively against
them, then “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government” that will succeed in fulfilling its reason for existence—the protection of
individual rights.

Ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence about rights and government were derived
from the writings of political philosophers of the European Enlightenment, especially those of
the Englishman John Locke. Enlightenment philosophers stressed that rights belonged equally
and naturally to each person because of their equal membership in the human species.

According to Locke, for example, persons should not believe that the government granted their
rights, or that they should be grateful to the government for them. Instead, they should expect
government to protect these equally possessed rights, which existed prior to the establishment
of civil society and government. Thus, the rights of individuals, based on the natural equality
of human nature, were called natural rights.

This Declaration of Independence, based on this natural-rights philosophy, explained to the

world that Americans severed their legal relationship with the United Kingdom because the
mother country had violated the rights of the people in her North American colonies. As a
result, the Americans declared they would independently form their own free government to
protect their natural rights. In 1787, the Americans framed a constitution to “secure the
Blessings of Liberty” and fulfill the primary purpose of any good government as expressed in
the Declaration of Independence, the protection of natural rights, and they ratified this in the
Constitution in 1788.

In 1789, the U.S. Congress proposed constitutional amendments to express explicitly the rights
of individuals that the government was bound to secure; in 1791, the requisite number of states
ratified 10 of these amendments, which became part of the U.S. Constitution. Thus, the
American Bill of Rights was born. Since then, the American Bill of Rights has been an example
and inspiration to people throughout the world who wish to enjoy liberty and equality in a
constitutional democracy. – John Patrick

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INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS IN INDIAN PERSPACTIVE:

In 2021, Freedom House ranked India as partly free in its annual Freedom in the World
rankings on political rights and civil liberties. In its 2021 annual report on the state of
democracy around the world Sweden-based V-Dem Institute classified India as an “electoral
autocracy” because of “restrictions on multiple facets of democracy” such as civil society
groups and free speech.

• USE OF TORTURE BY POLICE

The Asian Centre for Human Rights estimated that from 2002 to 2008, over four people per
day died while in police custody, with "hundreds" of those deaths being due to police use of
torture. According to a report written by the Institute of Correctional Administration in Punjab,
up to 50% of police officers in the country have used physical or mental abuse on prisoners.
Instances of torture, such as through a lack of sanitation, space, or water have been documented
in West Bengal as well.

• RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

Communal conflicts between religious groups (mostly between Hindus and Muslims) have
been prevalent in India since around the time of its independence from British rule. According
to official figures, 2002 Gujarat riots ended with 1,044 dead, 223 missing, and 2,500 injured.
Of the dead, 790 were Muslim and 254 Hindu. Unofficial sources estimate that up to 2,000
people died. There were instances of rape, children being burned alive, and widespread looting
and destruction of property. It is believed to have been incited by the Godhra train burning,
where 59 people (who were mostly returning from Ayodhya after a religious celebration at the
Babri Masjid demolition site) were burnt to death. Subsequently, circulation of false news in
local newspapers alleging ISI hand in the attacks and that the local Muslims conspired with
them, and also about false stories of kidnap and rape of Hindu women by Muslims further
inflamed the situation.

It is commonly believed that the riots were incited by a threatening speech and an ultimatum
targeted towards peaceful anti-CAA protesters by Kapil Mishra, a BJP politician from Delhi.
The Supreme Court of India blamed the Delhi police for "unprofessionalism" during the Delhi

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riots and directly indicated that the police was waiting for the Central Government of India led
by the Bharatiya Janata Party to give them instructions, instead of acting independently and
conscientiously. In the hearing, Justice K.M. Joseph said - “Look at how police acts in the UK.
If somebody makes an inflammatory remark, they swing into action. They don’t wait for orders.
Police should not be looking for here and there for nods".

• CASTE RELATED ISSUES:

Contemporary India, however, has seen the influence of caste start to decline. This is partly
due to the spread of education to all castes which has had a democratising effect on the political
system. However, this "equalising" of the playing field has not been without controversy. The
Mandal Commission and its quotas system has been a particularly sensitive issue.

• FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:

According to the estimates of Reporters Without Borders, India ranks 122nd worldwide in 2010
on the press freedom index (down from 105th in 2009). The press freedom index for India is
38.75 in 2010 (29.33 for 2009) on a scale that runs from 0 (most free) to 105 (least free). In
2014 India was down ranked to 140th worldwide (score of 40.34 out of 105) but despite this
remains one of the best scores in the region. Organisations like Tehelka and NDTV have been
particularly influential, in bringing about the resignation of powerful Haryana minister Venod
Sharma. In addition, laws like Prasar Bharati act passed in recent years contribute significantly
to reducing the control of the press by the government.

• LGBTQ RIGHTS:

Until the Delhi High Court decriminalised consensual private sexual acts between consenting
adults on 2 July 2009, homosexuality was considered criminal as per interpretations of the
ambiguous Section 377 of the 150-year-old Indian Penal Code (IPC), a law passed by the
British colonial government. However, this law was very rarely enforced. In its ruling
decriminalising homosexuality, the Delhi High Court noted that existed law conflicted with the
fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India, and such criminalising is violative
of Articles 21, 14 and 15 of the Constitution. On 11 December 2013, homosexuality was again
criminalized by a Supreme Court ruling. On 6 September 2018, a five judge constitutional
bench of the Supreme Court of India, in a landmark judgement, decriminalized homosexuality.

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 • OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION:

Conflicts such as Anti-Bihari sentiment have sometimes escalated to violence between

communal groups, despite government and police efforts to mediate the situation.Deception
detection tests like 'narcoanalysis' (controlled anesthesia), Brain mapping, and lie detector tests
were once commonly permitted by Indian courts for crime investigation. Concerns regarding
human rights violations in conducting deception detection tests (DDT)s were raised long back
and the National Human Rights Commission of India had published Guidelines in 2000 for the
Administration of Polygraph tests. However, only few of the investigating agencies were seen
to follow these guidelines.

CONCLUSION:

Individual rights are basic rights which are integral part for the development of human being
in the absence of which person cannot live life with dignity. Constitution of India protects the
individual rights of the people, provisions for the same have been made not only in the Articles
of the Constitution but in fact Preamble also talks about the fundamental freedoms and
protection of the dignity of the individual. The Indian Judiciary had even relaxed the rule of
locas standi for the protection of individual rights which pave the way for the development of
the concept of Public Interest Litigation. Through public interest litigation various incidents of
violation of human rights had been put before the Courts. Courts protected the rights of women,
workers, children, prisoners and so on. Thus, judiciary is playing a role of saviour of the human
rights of the people so that each individual can live with dignity.

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