MINORITY RIGHTS UNDER NUANCES OF INDIAN

CONSTITUTION
INTRODUCTION
India has a long history that includes the rise and fall of empires, changes in the ruling class and
dynasties, the arrival of outsiders, and finally the establishment of India as a sovereign nation. 1
The Aryans, Muslims, and British were all outsiders who occupied India at various points
throughout history. Dravidian people of various castes, ethnic groups, and religious beliefs
formerly inhabited India.2 Muslim dominance in India lasted for around eight hundred years. The
British had a chance to expand the British Empire because of the demise of Muslim control in
the late seventeenth century. The British had a sizable presence in the western part of India
already. By the end of the seventeenth century, India was securely under British dominion.3
Despite this, the English monarchs made few efforts to bridge the historical socioeconomic gaps.
The minority-majority problem was at its height when they granted the Indian colony territorial
freedom in the middle of the 20th century.4 The numerous communities living in India
experienced enormous suffering, agony, resentment, and mistrust because of the partition of
India. The minority-majority issue is not a recent development; rather, it is the result of
thousands of years' worth of history.5
MINORITIES IN INDIA
In India, the word "minority" typically refers to those who are not Hindu, suggesting that
Hinduism is the major component of Indian identity. 6 Caste, tribal, linguistic, and religious
groups all describe themselves as minorities in this country, so it's not just the religious
organisations that hold this view.7 The Indian Constitution distinguishes between linguistic and
religious minorities. The following communities have received official recognition from the
Indian government as minorities: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians. 8
These groups were recognised by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in accordance
with Section 2(c) of the National Commission of Minorities Statute (hereinafter referred to as
NCM).
A definition of the term minority is not provided in the NCM Statute. Nevertheless, based on
practise, it is evident that the Government of India (GOI) employed population and religious
1
P. Spear, A History of India (Penguin, London, 1956) vol. 2, R. Thapar, A History of India (Penguin, London,
1966).
2
K. A. Nilkanta Sastri, History of South India from Pre Historic Times to the Fall ofVijaynagar (Oxford University
Press, Madras, 1976).
3
R. C. Majumdar, An Advanced History of India (MacMillan, Madras, 1988).
4
M. N. Das, India under Morley Minto: Politics Behind Revolution. Repression and Reforms (Allen and Unwin,
London, 1964).
5
S. Sarkar, Modern India, 1885-1947 (Macmillan, Delhi,1983).
6
M. P. Raju, Minority Rights Myth or Reality: A Critical Look at the II Judge Verdict with Full Text. (Media
House, Delhi, 2002).
7
M. N. Srinivas, Caste in Modem India and Other Essays (Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1962).
8
22 Annual Report, 'Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Government of India (2002-2003).
criteria to identify minorities in India. Sadly, there is also no commonly agreed-upon definition
of the term "minority" on a global scale. Scholars and representatives chosen by international
organisations have nevertheless made attempts. Francesco Capotorti,9 the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of
Minorities, suggested a definition which is frequently followed by legal scholars.
According to him, "A minority is a group which is numerically inferior to the rest of the
population of a State, in a non-dominant position, whose members—being nationals of the State
— possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of the
population and show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity, directed towards preserving their
culture, traditions, religion or language”.

THE LAW OF MINORITIES AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

One of the first issues in international law is the defense of minorities. In recent years, the
normative response of international law to issues of minority-majority relations has tended to
alternate between a quasi-collective rights focus that emphasises the preservation and promotion
of minority identities and an individual rights focus that implicitly favors integration of
minorities into the larger society of their States. 10 A number of continuing practical difficulties,
such as the relative roles to be performed by global, regional, and local actors, and the proper
balance between judicial and political solutions to minority right issues, go along with this
normative contradiction.
Following World War I, nations adopted international and national laws that were based on
either bilateral or multilateral treaties, creating what is known as a protection system. 11 The
treaties included clauses addressing nationality, the guarantee of life and liberty to all citizens
within a State, the prevention of discrimination in employment and access to public posts, and
cultural autonomy. A State needed the majority vote in the league of nations' council in order to
change any laws. The League of Nations also formed minority committees to review petitions;
frequently, these committees engaged in negotiations with the relevant governments on behalf of
the minority groups impacted. The framework set in place by the League of Nations to protect
minorities came to an end with the end of World War II. During this time, establishing equality
between minorities and majority populations in practice and in law was seen as essential to
maintaining internal security and, by extension, worldwide peace.
India and International Law

9
F. Capotorti, Study of the Rights of Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, Sub-
Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, U N. ESCOR, 30th Sess., para. 568,
U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Su
10
P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991).

11
F. Ermacora, 'The Protection of Minorities before the UN', 182 Recueil des cours (1983) pp. 257-367.
Parts III and IV of the Indian Constitution contain provisions relating to human rights. While the
latter directs the State to offer economic and social rights to its citizens in certain areas, the
former guarantees fundamental rights to the individual. They make up the Constitution's
conscience. The Indian Constitution explicitly outlines the principles on which foreign policy
should be developed and upheld; Article 51 of the Indian Constitution emphasises this idea. The
key provision to the Directive Principles of State Policy is found in Article 37.
The Directive Principles appear to impose positive obligations on the State to secure a new
socio-economic order for the promotion of the welfare of the people of India, and that this cannot
be accomplished immediately. This appears to be the reason for making these principles
judicially non-enforceable. Article 12 makes it clear that the Union of India's constituent states
are included in the phrase "the State" for purposes of Parts III and IV of the Constitution. The
main focus of Article 51 is on foreign relations, international commitments, and international
peace and security, all of which are issues that, according to the Indian Constitution, are solely
the union's purview.
The State is mandated to ensure social order, with social, economic, and political justice serving
as the cornerstone of societal institution in order to advance the welfare of the people. The
purpose of the Directive Principles is to guarantee the dignity of human life, and the Parliament
and State Legislatures are tasked with achieving this goal.
LAW FOR PROTECTION OF MINORITIES UNDER INDIAN CONSTITUTION
Due in large part to the constitutional protections afforded minorities to retain their language,
religion, and culture, the concepts of secularism and pluralism have proven robust in India
despite aggressive assaults by fundamentalist forces claiming to speak for the majority society. 12
In the Motilal Nehru Draft Constitution, which was first published in 1928, the rights of
minorities to practice their culture and religion and to be shielded from majoritarianism were
recognised. The Indian Constitution contains a number of measures concerning the protection of
minorities, including Articles 15, 16, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30.
According to Article 15, the State cannot discriminate against any citizen on the basis of their
religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. No citizen shall be refused public employment on the
basis of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, or residency, according to Article 16.
Every person is given the freedom of conscience and the right to openly proclaim, practice, and
spread their religion in accordance with Article 25. Article 26 provides for the freedom to
conduct religious affairs.
The Indian Constitution does not define the term "minority" or include enough details to define a
test for deciding whether a particular group constitutes a minority. The term "minority" was not
defined in any way by those who framed the Indian Constitution. The judiciary has so been
entrusted with this job.

12
T. N. Maddan, Modern Myths, Locked Minds Secularism and Fundamentalism in India (Oxford University Press,
Delhi, 1997).
Therefore, a group of people who are numerically less than the majority in a certain location is
referred to as a minority. However, it makes no mention of any distinguishing characteristics,
whether they be arbitrary or objective, should be taken into account when deciding whether a
group counts as a minority. Therefore, while some people view a "minority" as a numerically
smaller group than the majority in a certain location, others lay emphasis on certain qualities
shared by the members of the minority, which, in their eyes, serve as objective determinants of
differentiation.
ARE MINORITIES' RIGHTS PROPERLY SECURED?
In India, crimes and violence against Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians have been occurring on a
daily basis. During the UN forum's eighth session in Geneva, this topic was raised. The rights of
minorities were declared to be almost nonexistent in that part. Additionally, the Supreme Court
had ruled in Ram Narayan Agarwal v. State of UP that the bulk of arrests and detentions were
unlawful. Every year, authorities torture roughly 1.8 million members of minority populations.
The phrase encounter killings has taken the place of the phrase minority murder. There has been
such a significant surge in torture that it calls into doubt the legitimacy of the rule of law and the
criminal justice system.
The Ministries of Minority Affairs and Home Affairs in the Government of India deal with
matters pertaining to minorities. There is little doubt that the Indian Constitution needs to be
amended to address violence against minorities, particularly Muslims. Minorities are not
specifically protected under the Indian Constitution. The criminal justice system, police, and
prosecutors are in no way sensitive to this problem. The 2005 Rajendra Sachar Committee
identified the challenges faced by Indian Muslims. The casualties are far lesser for Christians and
Sikhs, but victims nonetheless.
CONCLUSION
Minorities must never feel oppressed in a free democracy like India. Several significant
community riots occurred at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, and
hundreds of innocent members of both majority and minority communities were killed or made
homeless. Since the 1990s, there has been an increase in communal violence, undermining
secular law and violating the constitution's principles of religious equality and
nondiscrimination, protection of human rights, implementation of social justice, and equality of
all Indian people.
In conclusion, it is important to remember that the constitution owes minorities a duty to defend
their rights against discrimination by operation wardens. As Mahatma Gandhi famously stated, a
nation's civilised status should not be determined by how it treats its minority population. Even
though India's performance in this change since independence does not seem adequate, we
nevertheless hope that the democratic ideals enshrined in the preamble of the Indian Constitution
would one day apply to minorities as well.