Writs and PILs

Part III of the Constitution guarantees our Fundamental Rights, such as:

• Equality;
• Liberty;
• the Right to Life;
• Freedom of Speech;
• Freedom of Religion.

But a right helps only if you can do something when it is broken. That is what a writ is for: a court order to protect your right.

A citizen can file a 'Writ Petition':

• directly in the Supreme Court, under Article 32, when the matter affects the whole country;
• in the High Court, under Article 226, for a matter within a state.

Notice the word 'directly'. When a Fundamental Right is at stake, you do not have to climb up through the lower courts first.

The Supreme Court then went further and created something new itself: Public Interest Litigation (PIL). A PIL is a case about a matter of public concern, and it gives real meaning to the Right to Life under Article 21.

The first reported PIL shows why it mattered. A lawyer, Mrs. Kapila Hingorani, read in a newspaper about under-trial prisoners in Bihar (people in jail, waiting for their trial).

Many had already spent longer in jail than their punishment would have been even if found guilty.

She was not one of them. She had nothing to gain. Still, she filed a writ petition for their release.

The Supreme Court ordered their release at once. It also gave guidelines that freed almost 40,000 under-trial prisoners across India.

Other important PILs:

• M.C. Mehta v. Union of India: cleaning the Ganga and protecting the Taj Mahal;
• Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan: in 1997 the Court laid down guidelines against sexual harassment at work, which became an Act of Parliament in 2013.