India is an independent democratic country. According to the Indian Constitution, every life has its fundamental rights. But the country’s current scenario says something else.
Some interruptions of the Indian constitution were always present since the beginning which might trouble the flow of our normal life and the irony is the nowadays violation is pretended to be normal.
Then what does a layman do if their fundamental rights are violated?
What will be the government’s step if the Constitution is disobeyed?
How far can it be said that the rules have been violated?
A bunch of questions are there and the answers have to be found for the sake of countrymen’s well being.
What is Article 21?
“No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law.”
Article 21 of the Indian Constitution has two rights:
- Right to life.
- Right to personal liberty.
Right to livelihood:
The right to life or livelihood is simply defined as a part of the Indian constitution which means one has its right to live in the country.
Right to privacy:
It was developed through a series of decisions over the past six decades.
Finally, on 24th August 2017, the Supreme Court declared the right to privacy as a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution.
Right to shelter:
The Supreme Court declared that the right to life means the development in a civilized society. For an animal, it is the only protection of the body and in the case of humans, it is to grow in every aspect.
Right to medical care and health:
In Article 21 it was held by Supreme Court that, the right to health is a part of the fundamental right provided under the Indian Constitution.
It incorporates the provisions undertaking the quality of physical and mental health as well.
Right to education:
It comes directly from the right to livelihood. Being educated or literate is the basic right of all human beings.
Right to a healthy environment:
To grow in every possible way, a healthy environment is a basic requirement. That is why the right to a healthy environment also comes under the fundamental right.
What are the fundamental rights:
Seven fundamental rights were originally documented by the Constitution.
- Right to freedom.
- Right against exploitation.
- Right to freedom of religion.
- Cultures and educational rights.
- Right to property.
- Right to Constitutional remedies.
- Right to education.
Current scenario and the violation of fundamental rights:
There is a popular term, rules are meant to broken and that is sometimes laughable if a school going boy does as it does not harm our society. But what if it affects the community?
Sexual harassment is a drastic violation of the fundamental rights that disobey the provision of Article 21 in the Indian Constitution.
It is also known that immediate action must be taken in favour of the victim, whose fundamental rights have been violated.
Despite knowing the consequences, the various forms of sexual assault such as molestation, rape has been taken place repetitively in the heart of the country.
These incidents always raise questions on the right to life or security.
Parents are always thinking about our well being and nothing is problematic regarding that. But the problem arises when they pressurize their child to fulfill their ambitions without listening to the children’s passion.
The rate of suicide in India is increasing day by day and most of them are students. Peer pressure is a critical thing that can even snatch so many young lives.
Do they have no right to lead their life with their own choice? Here somehow, the right to life has been violated pathetically.
Being educated is not a luxury rather a basic need to survive in life. Unfortunately, more than 10 million children are working as laborers in various fields.
Poverty in the country has become an obstacle in the way of education.
The saddest part is there are so many rural areas in our countries where a girl child is treated as the burden of her parents and they forced the girl to marry even before she becomes an adult.
These were the few cases of violating the fundamental rights and the list is never-ending.
This has been happening for a long period.
The third world country is developing in every field. It would be a magnificent step if the government takes such strict actions regarding the violation of fundamental rights.
-By Saswati Chattopadhyay.
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