JURISPRUDENCE SURROUNDING THE RIGHT TO LIFE
Category: Constitutional
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INTRODUCTION
The right to life means that everybody has the right to live and shall not be deprived of their arbitrary right to live by another person. There are many issues such as capital punishment which some do not agree to and the issue of abortion where, it may be considered murder by some, euthanasia which may be seen as incorrect or meat production which is also seen as infringement of the rights of animals by some by raising it for meat consumption. The killing of another human being is also considered an infringement of their fundamental right to live. Individuals often differ on how to apply these principles of the Right to life.
HISTORY OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE
THE Tablet of Hammurabi gives the first codified and formal human rights which was by a Sumerian king. The document was legally binding and protected the people from unnecessary punishment. With the emergence of Natural school of law, thinkers like Plato and Aristotle believed that nature was the will of God. Positive law emerged after this which led everyone to be under the control of a sovereign. In the British era there was a formal law for fundamental rights which was made suitable to the British taste disregarding the rights of Indians. Several laws were made in effect to suppress anti-British activities and protests. This led to the Indians wanting fundamental rights to protect their rights and liberties. In 1950 the Indian Constitution gave Indian citizens fundamental rights including the right to life.
MEANING AND CONCEPT OF RIGHT TO LIFE
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights covers the right to life and liberty of a person. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also holds that the right to life is an inherent life that every person has and that it must be protected by the law and that nobody can deprive another of this right. This is a basic right that can be found in the constitution of various countries around the world. Therefore, the right to life is a basic right and nobody can be deprived of their right to life except by procedure established by law. In India the right to life does not consist of merely existing but also extends to other bundle of rights like right to live with dignity, right to livelihood, right to clean environment etc. It is the life system of all other rights.
ARTICLE 21
“No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law.”
In Francis Coralie Mullin vs The Administrator (1981), Justice P. Bhagwati said that Article 21 ’embodies a constitutional value of supreme importance in a democratic society’. Justice Iyer also said that it branded Article 21 as ‘the procedural Magna Carta protective of life and liberty’. Article 21 is the foundation of the Constitution. It is the most animate and modern provision in our living Constitution. Article 21 can only be claimed when a person is deprived of his right to life or personal liberty by the State and cannot be applied when it is violated by an individual or private entity. It extends to natural persons and not only to the citizens as it is available to every person including foreigners.
ABORTION
Every person has the right to live even a child in the womb. When a pregnant woman is killed it is liable for double murder but how is it that a living, breathing child in the womb be allowed to abort only because it was the right circumstance or the right time to bring a child into the world. Pope Pius XII during a 1951 papal encyclical said that the child derives a right to life directly from God and not from any parent or society or maorals and thus no human institution or science can dispose of a human being.
LEGAL PROVISIONS
The Protection of Human Rights Act (1993)
Section 2 (d) the Act says that it means the right to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution, enforced by the court of law and within the International covenants.
CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
The fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution secures justice and protection to its citizen and contains the following rights-
Article 21: The protection of life and personal liberty and it cannot be deprived except according to the procedure established by law.
Article 14: it gives the right for every citizen to be treated equally before the law.
Article 15 (1): It protects the citizens against any discrimination on grounds of sex, religion or caste or place of birth.
Article 19 (1) (d):Every citizen has the right to move freely throughout the territory of India.
Article 19 (1) (e): Every citizen has the right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.
Article 19 (1) (g): The right of every citizen to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation.
LANDMARK JUDGMENTS
Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978).- Court held that due process of law must ensure fairness and must be reasonable. The procedure established by law was seen as an extension to the due process of law.
A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (1959). This case was about the illegal detention of a Communist leader who claimed that his personal liberty was violated and this case brought the issue of personal liberty under Article 21 to limelight where the Court held that personal liberty also included the right to eat and sleep.
Kharak Singh v. State of U.P. and Others (1964)- The Court held that personal liberty also included to be free from the restrictions imposed on our private lives and not only on our physical movements.
K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017- The Court held that the right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 and that it is an essential aspect of the human dignity and personal liberty.
CONCLUSION
The right to life is one of the most significant rights given to us as it is seen as an innate right that cannot be deprived by anybody. It not only protects a person’s life but also includes other aspects such as the right to shelter, food, health, privacy. It includes all the rights that make living go beyond merely existing and makes it worthwhile. In India, Article 21 has been given an in-depth interpretation by the Judiciary. The right to life is the fundamental right that upholds all the other rights and cannot be curtailed even during an emergency. Finally, let us live and let others live.
OLQ is a Pan-India basis law firm connecting legal expertise nationwide.
WRITTEN BY: ADINA EVANGELINE G
GUIDED BY: ADVOCATE ANIK
