Right to Freedom of Religion
The Right to Freedom of Religion, enclosed in Articles 25–28, provides religious freedom to all citizens and ensures a secular state in India. According to the Constitution, there is no official State religion, and the State is required to treat all religions impartially and neutrally.
Article 25 promises all persons the freedom of conscience and the right to preach, practice and propagate any religion of their choice. This right is, however, subject to public order, morality and health, and the power of the State to take measures for social welfare and reform. The right in this article shall not affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making new law.
Article 26 guarantees all religious denominations or any sections, subject to public order, morality and health; to manage their own affairs in matters of religion, religion, set up or manage institutions of their own for charitable or religious purposes, and own, acquire and manage property in accordance with law. These provisions do not derogate/deviate from the State's power to acquire property belonging to a religious denomination.
Article 27 guarantees freedom for payment of taxes. No person can be compelled to pay taxes for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious institution.
Article 28 forbids religious instruction in a wholly State-funded educational institution, and educational institutions receiving aid from the State cannot compel any of their members to receive religious instruction or attend religious worship without their consent or their guardian's consent in case of minor.
Cultural and Educational Rights: The Cultural and Educational rights stated in Articles 29 and 30, are measures to protect the rights of cultural, cultural, linguistic and religious minorities, by enabling them to conserve their heritage and protecting them against discrimination.
Article 29 grants any section of citizens having a distinct language, script culture of its own, and the right to conserve and develop the same, and thus defences the rights or interest of minorities by preventing the State from imposing any external culture on them. It also prohibits discrimination against any citizen for admission into any educational institutions maintained or aided by the State, on the basis of religion, race, caste, language or any of them. Nonetheless, this is subject to reservation by the State for socially and educationally backward classes, as well as reservation of up to 50 percent of seats in any educational institution run by a minority community for citizens belonging to that community.
Article 30 promises the right of minorities to set up and administer educational institutions of their choice in order to preserve and develop their own culture, and prohibits the State, while granting aid, from discriminating against any institution on the basis of the fact that it is administered or managed by a religious or cultural minority.
Right to constitutional remedies:
The Right to Constitutional Remedies is covered in Article 32. It empowers inhabitants to approach the Supreme Court of India to seek enforcement, enforcement, or protection against infringement, of their Fundamental Rights. Article 32 provides a guaranteed remedy for enforcement of all the other Fundamental Rights, and the Supreme Court is designated as the protector of these rights by the Constitution. The Supreme Court has been empowered to issue writs, namely habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, and quo warrant, for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights, while the High Courts have been empowered under Article 226 - which is not a Fundamental Right in itself.
India was a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Table: Civil and Political Rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the Indian Constitution:
Sl No. | Name of Rights | Universal Declaration | Indian Constitution |
1 | Equality before law | Article 7 | Article 14 |
2 | Prohibition of discrimination | Article 7 | Article 15(1) |
3 | Equality of opportunity | Article 21 (2) | Article 16(1) |
4 | Freedom of speech and expression | Article 19 | Article 19(1)a |
5 | Freedom of peaceful assembly | Article 20(1) | Article 19(1)b |
6 | Right to form associations or unions | Article 23(4) | Article 19(1)c |
7 | Freedom of movement within the border | Article 13(1) | Article 19(1)d |
8 | Protection in respect of conviction for offences | Article 11(2) | Article 20(1) |
9 | Protection of life and personal liberty | Article 3 | Article 21 |
10 | Protection of slavery and forced labour | Article 4 | Article 23 |
11 | Freedom of conscience and religion | Article 18 | Article 25(1) |
12 | Remedy for enforcement of rights | Article 8 | Article 32 |
13 | Right against arbitrary arrest and detention | Article 9 | Article 22 |
14 | Right to social security | Article 22 | Article 29(1) |
It is also revealed that most of the economic, social and cultural rights proclaimed in the universal Declaration of Human Rights have been incorporated in part IV of the Indian Constitution.
Table: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the Indian Constitution:
Sl No. | Universal declaration of rights | Article in the universal declaration | Article in the Indian constitution |
1 | Right to work, to just and favourable conditions of work | Article 23(1) | Article 41 |
2 | Right to equal pay for equal work | Article 23(2) | Article 39(d) |
3 | Right to education | Article 26(1) | Article 21(A), 41, 45, & 51(A)k |
4 | Right to just and favourable remuneration | Article 23(3) | Article 43 |
5 | Right to rest and leisure | Article 24 | Article 43 |
6 | Right of everyone to a standard of living adequate for him and his family | Article 25(1) | Article 39(a) & Article 47 |
7 | Right to a proper social order | Article 28 | Article 38 |
The Supreme Court of India recognises these fundamental rights as 'Natural Rights' or 'Human Rights'. The Judiciary in India plays a significant role in protecting human rights. In Indian constitution, human rights are implied as civil liberties and democratic rights (Asish Kumar Das, 2007).
To summarize, rights are regarded as central to civilization, being observed as established pillars of society and culture. Traditionally, Rights are moral laws specifying what a person should be free to do, and they come from God. In other way, rights are political laws specifying what a person is free to do, and they are created by governments. Third category describe that rights are moral laws specifying what a person should be free to do, and they are inherent in man’s nature. The concept of human right is described as rights are moral principles or norms, which describe certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. These are moral claims which are unchallengeable and inherent in all human beings by virtue of the member of the humanity alone. Today these claims are articulated and formulated and called as human rights. It can be supposed that human rights reproduce the minimum standards essential for people to live with self-respect. Human rights give people the freedom to choose how they live, how they express themselves, and what kind of government they want to support, among many other things. Human rights also assure people the means necessary to satisfy their basic needs, such as food, housing, and education.