Year: 2021-24

NAME: Ritika Sharma

FATHER’S NAME: Mr. Mahendra Kumar Sharma

CLASS & SEMESTER: L.L.B 1st Semester

ROLL NO.: 2101058

TOPIC: L.L.B Assignment.

Submitted by: Ritika Sharma

Date: 09-04-2022
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PLACE: INDORE
DATE: 09-04-2022

I WISH TO EXPRESS MY SINCERE GRATITUDE ON THIS

SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF MY ASSIGNMENT ON
“RIGHT TO LIFE AND PERSONAL LIBERTY, DISCUSSING
VARIOUS FACETS OF ARTICLE 21 OF CONSTITUTION OF
INDIA” ,
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY LECTURERS, WHO HAS
GUIDED AND ASSISTED ME TO COMPLETE THE
ASSIGNMENT, WITHOUT THEIR SUPPORT I WOULD NOT
HAVE FINISHED THE ASSIGNMENT WITHIN TIME.
I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO
THANK MY RESPECTED UNIVERSITY FOR THIS
OPPORTUNITY AND FAMILY MEMBERS, WITHOUT THEN
THIS ASSIGNMENT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED
IN A SHORT DURATION.

RITIKA SHARMA

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 DECLARATION

I understand what plagiarism is and I am aware of the University’s policy in

this regard.

 I declare that the work hereby submitted is my own original work.

Where other people’s work has been used (either from a printed source,
Internet or any other source),this has been properly acknowledged and
referenced in accordance with the School of Law, RU’s requirements.
 I have not used work previously produced by another student or any
other person to hand in as my own.
 I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the
intention of passing it off as his or her own work.

SIGNATURE:
DATE ……….…….

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 ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC- “ RIGHT TO LIFE AND PERSONAL LIBERTY,

DISCUSSING VARIOUS FACETS OF ARTICLE 21 OF
CONSTITUTION OF INDIA”

NAME – RITIKA SHARMA

CLASS – L.L.B 1ST SEMESTER
BATCH – 2021-2022
ROLL NO. 2101058

COLLEGE NAME – RENAISSANCE UNIVERSITY, INDORE

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Sr.no. CONTENT LIST Page
no.
1. Article 21: Meaning & Scope of Protection of 4
Life & Personal Liberty
2. 6
Personal Liberty: Meaning and Scope
3. What is scope of Right to Personal 10
Liberty
4.
What is the relation between Right to 16
Privacy and Personal Liberty?

5. Critical Analysis on Interpretation of 18

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution
6.
Conclusion 20

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Article 21: Meaning & Scope of
Protection of Life & Personal
Liberty
Introduction
“The right to live a free, full and dignified life is one of the most
basic principles of human existence. Every person is entitled to
live their life on their own terms, with no unfair interference
from others. A successful democracy can only be one that
guarantees its citizens the right to protect their own life and
liberty.”

In India, the Protection of Life and Personal Liberty

is a Fundamental Right granted to citizens under Part
III of the Constitution of India, 1950. These
Fundamental Rights represent the foundational values
cherished by the people and are granted against
actions of the state, meaning that no act of any state
authority can violate any such right of a citizen except
according to the procedure established by law. Article
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21 of this part states that “No person shall be deprived
of his life or personal liberty except according to the
procedure established by law”, and this is known as
the Right to Life and Personal Liberty.

Hence, this Article prohibits the encroachment upon

a person’s right to life and personal liberty against the
state. The state here refers to all entities having
statutory authority, like the Government and
Parliament at the Central and State level, local
authorities, etc. Thus, violation of the right by private
entities is not within its purview.

The terms ‘life’ and ‘personal liberty’ encompass a

wide variety of rights of the people, which are a result
of the evolution in the interpretation of Article 21 by
the courts over the years. Here, we shall examine the
various aspects of this Fundamental Right; but before
that, let’s have a look at the jurisprudential evolution
of this concept and the significance of one of the most
famous judgements related to it – Maneka Gandhi v.
Union of India (1978)

Personal Liberty: Meaning and Scope

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The meaning of Personal Liberty of a citizen in India has evolved
and its scope has widened. Prior to the Maneka Gandhi case, it
had a relatively narrower scope, comprising only some liberties
of a person.

Personal Liberty was first interpreted in the case of A.K. Gopalan

v. State of Madras in 1950, which is explained below.

1. A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras

(1950): Prevention Detention
Facts:
In this case, the Petitioner, a communist leader, was
detained under the Preventive Detention Act, 1950. He
claimed that such detention was illegal as it infringed upon
his freedom of movement granted in Article 19(1)(d) of the
Constitution of India and thus also violated his Personal
Liberty as granted by Article 21 since freedom of
movement should be considered a part of a person’s
personal liberty.

Judgement:
The court stated that personal liberty meant liberty of the
physical body and thus did not include the rights given
under Article 19(1). Hence, Personal liberty was
considered to include some rights like the right to sleep and
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eat, etc. while the right to move freely was relatively minor
and was not included in one’s “personal” liberty.

The subsequent case of Kharak Singh v. State of U.P. and

Ors. (1964) saw an expansion in the meaning of Personal
liberty, explained as follows.

2. Kharak Singh v. State of U.P. and

Ors. (1964): Personal Liberty
Curtailed
Facts:
The petitioner, in this case, was accused of dacoity
but was released due to a lack of evidence against
him. The Uttar Pradesh Police then began
surveillance over him which included domiciliary
visits at night, periodical enquiries, verification of
movements and the like. The petitioner filed a writ
petition challenging the constitutional validity of this
State action.

Judgement:
It was held that the right to personal liberty constitutes
not only the right to be free from restrictions placed
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on one’s movements but also to be free from
encroachments on one’s private life. Thus, personal
liberty was considered to include all the residual
freedoms of a person not included in Article 19(1).

However, Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978)

proved to be a landmark case in the evolution of
Personal Liberty, greatly widening the scope of this
right as granted by Article 21.

3. Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India

(1978): Right to Travel
Facts:
The petitioner, in this case, was ordered by the
Regional Passport Office, Delhi to surrender her
newly-made passport within 7 days due to the Central
Government’s decision to impound it “in public
interest”, in accordance with the Passport Act of
1967. Upon requesting a statement of the reasons for
such impounding, the Government replied that they
could not furnish a copy of the same “in the interest
of the general public.” A writ petition was filed by the
petitioner challenging the Government’s decision of
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impounding and also of not providing the reasons, as
well as not allowing the petitioner to defend herself.

Judgement:
The Honourable Supreme Court held that the right to
travel and go outside the country must be included in
the Right to Personal Liberty. It stated that “personal
liberty” given in Article 21 had the widest amplitude
and covered a variety of rights related to the personal
liberty of a person. The scope of personal liberty was,
hence, greatly increased and it was held to include all
the rights granted under Article 21, as well as all other
rights related to the personal liberty of a person. Such
a right could only be restricted by a procedure
established by law, which had to be “fair, just and
reasonable, not fanciful, oppressive or arbitrary.”

Hence, the Court adjudged in the case that:

1. The Government action was not justified as

there was no pressing reason for the
impounding of the petitioner’s passport and it
was a violation of her Fundamental Rights.

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 2. The principles of Natural Justice were violated
as the petitioner was not given the opportunity
to be heard.
Since this landmark case, the courts have sought to
give a wider meaning to “personal liberty”. The
principles of natural justice have also been
emphasized upon, as any procedure which restricts
the liberty of a person must be fair, just and
reasonable.

What is scope of Right to Personal

Liberty?
The scope of Right to Personal Liberty is quite
wide, which cannot be covered within a limit as
per provided under Article 21. Personal Liberty
means some freedoms and dignity to be
provided to all the citizens of the country so that
they can live with peace without interference of
state in their life matters. Then, it was that the
Article applies on both citizens as well as non-
citizens.

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Here, some concepts that can be covered
generally under Article 21 can be discussed
under following sub-headings:
 Right to live with dignity
This right provides to live a person with respect
and dignity in the society. No other individual
or state is able to infringe this right. The right
was properly explained under Francis Coraile
Vs Union Territory of Delhi.
 Right to decent environment including
pollution-free water and air and
protection
To live in a clean environment also comes under
the basic right of the individual. It is important
for a person to keep his/her health and living
conditions good stated by court in Vellore
Citizens’ Welfare Forum VsUnion of Indi.
 Against hazardous industries

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The industries which provides hazardous
environment, can be sued against this right
given under Article 21 of the constitution.
Proper working conditions that are non-
dangerous should be provided to the individuals.
 Right to livelihood
As per Mohini Jain Vs State of Karnataka ,to
make a livelihood for oneself without any
obstruction from the state or any other
individual is a person’s legal right until and
unless the work is illegal or prohibited under
Law.
 Right to privacy
To protect one’s personal data and to not to
make it public is also an individual’s right. The
right was considered fundamental in 2020 by
the Supreme Court.
 Right to shelter

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This right talk about to have a proper shelter or
house for an individual, unless is prohibited by
law. Recently it was submitted by the court
in Rajesh Yadav Vs State of UP.
 Right to health
To get oneself medically fit and to get proper
treatment comes under one’s basic right,
because only healthy individuals are able to
make the nation progress. This was established
by Supreme Court in Parmanand Katara Vs
Union of India.
 Right to free legal aid
Every citizen of the country has a right to know
about the law and to get legal aid and advice
free id his/her legal right is infringed.
 Right against inhuman treatment
If any person feels that he is behaved inhumanly
by some other person or state. He has legal right
to fight against such disregard under Article 21.
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It doesn’t matter if the person is citizen or non-
citizen.
 Right to travel abroad
This is also a genuine and basic human right to
travel abroad like marriage and family given
under Satish Chandra Verma Vs Union of
India in 2019.
 Right against bonded labour
Bonded labour or slavery is the worst form of
labour which was banned by the government
years ago being inhuman as well as dangerous.
 Right against custodial harassment
A person has to be behaved properly even in the
custody whether police or judicial. No harm
should be done to him at that time. It was
discussed in one such case called Bandhua
Mukti Morcha Vs Union of India.
 Right to information
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Right to information is a legal right of every
individual. For the reason The Right to
Information Act, 2005 was established to make
people know everything about public
departments and government schemes specially.
 Right against public hanging
The Article writes that No person shall be
deprived of his life or personal liberty except
according to a procedure established by Law.
Under this right, public hanging was stated to be
unconstitutional and inhuman.
Many more rights can be included within the
scope of Article 21 and of personal
liberty. There are no true dimensions made
which can limit the scope of this Article i.e.
Right to life and Personal Liberty.
Above all of this it can be said that Personal
Liberty provides all such rights which gives
liberty to an individual to behave as one pleases
except for those restraints imposed by laws and
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codes of conduct of the society in which one
lives to safeguard the physical, moral, political,
and economic welfare of others.

What is the relation between Right to

Privacy and Personal Liberty?
In January 2020, a nine-judge bench headed by
Chief Justice J.S.Khehar, in their judgment
announced that the right to privacy is a
fundamental right and is an integral part of the
right to life and liberty. The ruling was given in
the case of Aadhaar Scheme on the grounds of it
violating to privacy.
Right to Privacy refers to a legal framework that
provides individuals a legal right to protect their
or their data’s privacy. Even not expressly stated
this right under Constitution, the validity of the
right to privacy can be admitted under the scope
of Article 21. As in Terminology, Right to
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Privacy has the closest meaning with
individual’s personal liberty.
The concept has been a grey area for a long
period of time which was arisen in the Aadhaar
link case in 2020. In the challenges to Aadhaar,
as the petitioners argued that Aadhaar would
breach privacy, it became essential for the
Supreme Court to decide whether Right to
privacy is a fundamental right or not.
The grievance as per the case was that collection
of biometric data was an invasion of
individual’s privacy. The government argued on
this point that privacy was not a fundamental
right and it became necessary for the Supreme
Court to decide whether privacy was a
fundamental right or not. Hence, a separate
bench was formed for the following case.
After this ruling, the judgments of the previous
cases, all were held to be overruled. And the
following judgment will form the basis of every
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judgment in the future cases. The Attorney
General arguing with government stated that the
action taken by the government was a deliberate
omission.
It was also argued that without privacy and a
private life, no person could be meaningfully
free. A world without privacy is a world with
unchecked surveillance, and constant
surveillance is antithetical to human dignity.
Hence, Right to Privacy inserted under scope
Article 21 was also given a status of
fundamental right being a matter of Personal
Liberty of an individual.

Critical Analysis on Interpretation of

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution

The scope of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution

which secures two rights namely, Right to Life
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and Right to Personal Liberty had widened its
scope and has been interpreting the right to life
from mere physical existence to include finer
values of life and right to proper healthy
livelihood and the right to personal liberty has
been interpreted to include right to privacy, right
to travel abroad and various others. The framers
of the Indian Constitution kept in mind the basic
Human Rights and by the influence of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
provided for the protection of life and personal
liberty of every citizen. Article 21 is available to
both the citizens of the country and also to the
non citizens, the reason behind this is that,
Article 21 is safeguarding the basic human rights
and such right shall apply without discrimination
of any sort including citizens or non citizens.
Traditionally the Article had a narrow
interpretation, but with time and more wide
interpretation of the Article and by applying the
purposive construction approach of
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interpretation whereby the purpose of the
creation of the statute is kept in mind and taken
in consideration, Article 21 is being interpreted
in a very wide scope. The court moved from a
traditional pedantic approach to purposive
approach in constructing the right to life and
right to personal liberty under the constitution.
Article 21 is omnipotent and cannot be
suspended even during the period of emergency
in the country. Article 21 does not merely exist in
the paper but is kept alive and vibrant so the
country can provide for absolute dignity and
basic Human Rights to the people as it was
intended by the framers of the constitution.

Conclusion
So far as concerned with the Personal Liberty, it
has very wide meaning as well as scope which
is not found in definite sense anywhere. In
Indian Constitution, Personal Liberty has been
inserted in Part-III and Article 21. It is to be
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known well no proper definition of this concept
has been provided in the Indian Constitution but
as general meaning it is quite elaborative
concept.
The Right to Life and Personal Liberty has a
wide ambit which is only growing over time.
There has been increasing awareness about the
various aspects of a person’s life which he or
she is entitled to control and which would, thus,
facilitate the enhancement in quality of his or
her life. This Right has been described as the
“heart and soul” of the Constitution of India by
the Supreme Court and certainly proves to be so
– representing the very basic necessities of
human life.
As per true meaning, we can’t say that full
freedom is being provided to the individuals to
practice this right, whereas when anywhere it is
seen that human life is infringed on the basis of
social, political, religious, physical basis, the
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right is there to provide the remedy. It does not
even let any-one to collect and use other
person’s information when it is not in national
interests.
Even this power is not vested in the government
to make use of any type of personal data of
human beings without valid reasons. The
concept of Right to privacy under Personal
liberty has been proved by the Supreme Court in
Aadhaar case as a fundamental right which has
to be protected under Article 21. It also is a
matter of dignity of a person.
Moreover, Article 21 concerning an important
right is not been dissolved even at the times of
emergencies imposed in the country covered
under Article 352 to 360 in Part XVIII of the
Indian Constitution

THANK YOU!

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 BIBLOGRAPHY

ACT: CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

WEBSITES REFERED:
https://www.ijlmh.com/critical-analysis-on-interpretation-of-article-21-
of-the-indian
https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/article-21-of-the-constitution-of-
ihttps://blog.ipleaders.in/article-21-constitution/ndia-right-to-life-and-
personal-liberty/
AND OF COURSE OUR BELOVED SEARCH ENGINE: GOOGLE.

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