Equality and freedom

The Fundamental Rights in brief: Right to Equality; Right to Freedom; Right against Exploitation; Right to Freedom of Religion; Cultural and Educational Rights; Right to Constitutional Remedies.

Right to Equality:

• Equality before law and equal protection of laws.
• No discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, including equal access to shops, hotels, places of entertainment, wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of worship.
• Equality of opportunity in public employment.
• Abolition of untouchability, one of the crudest forms of inequality.
• Abolition of titles: the state confers no titles except for excellence in the military or academic fields.
• The Preamble speaks of equality of status and of opportunity. In an unequal society, equal opportunity needs special measures for children, women and socially and educationally backward classes. Article 16(4) makes clear that reservation of posts for any backward class not adequately represented in state services is not a violation of equality; in the spirit of the Constitution, it helps fulfil equality of opportunity.

Right to Freedom. Equality and liberty are the two rights most essential to democracy. Liberty means freedom of thought, expression and action, but not freedom to do anything one likes; freedoms are defined so that each person's freedom does not threaten others' or endanger law and order.

• Right to life and personal liberty (Article 21): no one may be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. A person arrested must be told the grounds of arrest, may be defended by a lawyer of their choice, and must be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours; the magistrate, who is not part of the police, decides whether the arrest is justified.
• The Supreme Court has expanded Article 21 to include the right to live with human dignity, free from exploitation, and the rights to shelter and livelihood, since no one can live without the means of living. The right to education is also now a Fundamental Right.
• Preventive detention: a person may be detained simply because the government fears they may threaten law and order or national security. Such detention can last three months, after which an advisory board must review it. It has often been misused, and there is tension between it and the right to liberty.
• Other freedoms: of speech and expression; to assemble peacefully and without arms; to form associations or unions; to move freely, and reside and settle, anywhere in India; and to practise any profession, occupation, trade or business. These are subject to restrictions such as public order, peace and morality; for example, the government may ban assemblies of five or more in some areas. Such powers can be misused, but vigilant citizens make misuse rarer.
• Rights of the accused: no one is guilty until a court finds them so, and everyone must be able to defend themselves. Three protections: no one is punished twice for the same offence; no law makes an action illegal retrospectively; and no one can be forced to give evidence against themselves.

In the Constituent Assembly, Somnath Lahiri complained that many rights seemed framed 'from the point of view of a police constable', with provisos that nearly cancelled them. The balance between rights and restrictions has been debated ever since.

Example (new): a woman refused entry to a public park because of her community, and a student told he cannot sit a government recruitment exam because of where he was born, would both be victims of a violation of the right to equality.