Human Rights Protection Under The Indian Constitution
Keywords:
Judicial Activism, PIL, UDHR, NHRC, ConstitutionAbstract
When we compare provisions of the constitution of India to that of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we find many Articles have the same spirit to the point of being identical. Part – III (Article 12-35) of the Constitution of India deals with the Fundamental Rights of the citizen. To enable the Supreme Court of India through judicial interpretation has widened the horizon of Human Rights. Mere declaration of Fundamental Rights is meaningless unless there is effective machinery for enforcement of the rights. If there is no remedy there is no right. As such the makers of the Indian Constitution have provided a machinery and procedure under Article 32 and 226 of constitution for safeguarding the fundamental rights. The concept of Human Rights emerged out of mankind’s reasoning capacity and sensitive conscience. From their nature, human rights which are often characterized as ‘ basic’ or ‘fundamental’ can hardly be considered as having been ‘created’ at any given moment. Thus, human Rights constitute the vital concern of the mankind. The history of mankind has been closely associated with the struggle of individual against injustice, exploitation and humiliation. The recognition, first at national and later at international level, of human rights is one of the most remarkable manifestations of this struggle. Recognition, protection and implementation of human rights are a very important and complicated issue because there is no agreed definition and understanding of the term ‘human rights’. It is a dynamic concept and it endeavors to adopt itself to the changing historical needs. For this reason, the definition and understanding of human rights depends upon the prevalent conditions in any given society at any time, and attaining ever new dimensions with the march of history. The concept of human rights has evolved originally in the field of domestic legislation as in the Magna Carta in England, the Bill of Rights in the U.S., Constitution and the Declaration on of rights of man in France. Although ancient Indian wisdom has emphasized human rights consciousness through the notion of Dharma (duty) and Danda (Punishment) which regulated the government of State and its citizens.
This Paper gives an insight about Human rights protection under the Indian constitution. For this purpose, paper has three parts as follows: (I) Introduction, (II) The Human rights protection under the Indian constitution, (III) Concluding remark.