CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

PERSONAL LIBERTY AND RAREST OF THE RARE CASE ON IMPOSITION OF CAPITAL

BY: PREKSHA SINGH

ROLL NUMBER: 1147

STREAM: [Link].B.(Hons.)

SUBMITTED TO: PROF. DR. [Link]

ROUGH DRAFT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF PROJECT FOR THE SUBJECT

SEPTEMBER 2016

CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYA NAGAR, MITHAPUR,

PATNA, BIHAR 800001

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 INTRODUCTION

Though the phraseology of Article 21 starts with negative word but the word No has been used in
relation to the word deprived. The object of the fundamental right under Article 21 is to prevent
encroachment upon personal liberty and deprivation of life except according to procedure established
by law. It clearly means that this fundamental right has been provided against state only. If an act of
private individual amounts to encroachment upon the personal liberty or deprivation of life of other
person. Such violation would not fall under the parameters set for the Article 21. in such a case the
remedy for aggrieved person would be either under Article 226 of the constitution or under general
law. But, where an act of private individual supported by the state infringes the personal liberty or
life of another person, the act will certainly come under the ambit of Article 21. Article 21 of the
Constitution deals with prevention of encroachment upon personal liberty or deprivation of life of a
person.

The state cannot be defined in a restricted sense. It includes Government Departments, Legislature,
Administration, Local Authorities exercising statutory powers and so on so forth, but it does not
include non-statutory or private bodies having no statutory powers. For example: company,
autonomous body and others. Therefore, the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 relates
only to the acts of State or acts under the authority of the State which are not according to procedure
established by law. The main object of Article 21 is that before a person is deprived of his life or
personal liberty by the State, the procedure established by law must be strictly followed. Right to
Life means the right to lead meaningful, complete and dignified life. It does not have restricted
meaning. It is something more than surviving or animal existence. The meaning of the word life
cannot be narrowed down and it will be available not only to every citizen of the country . As far as
Personal Liberty is concerned , it means freedom from physical restraint of the person by personal
incarceration or otherwise and it includes all the varieties of rights other than those provided under
Article 19 of the Constitution. Procedure established by Law means the law enacted by the State.
Deprived has also wide range of meaning under the Constitution. These ingredients are the soul of
this provision. The fundamental right under Article 21 is one of the most important rights provided
under the Constitution which has been described as heart of fundamental rights by the Apex Court.

The Apex Court led a great importance on reasonableness and rationality of the provision and it is
pointed out that in the name of undue stress on Fundamental Rights and Individual Liberty, the ideals

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of social and economic justice cannot be given a go-by. Thus it is clear that the provision Article 21
was constructed narrowly at the initial stage but the law in respect of life and personal liberty of a
person was developed gradually and a liberal interpretation was given to these words. New
dimensions have been added to the scope of Article21 from time to time. It imposed a limitation
upon a procedure which prescribed for depriving a person of life and personal liberty by saying that
the procedure which prescribed for depriving a person of life and personal liberty by saying that the
procedure must be reasonable, fair and such law should not be arbitrary, whimsical and fanciful. The
interpretation which has been given to the words life and personal liberty in various decisions of the
Apex Court, it can be said that the protection of life and personal liberty has got multi dimensional
meaning and any arbitrary, whimsical and fanciful act of the State which deprived the life or personal
liberty of a person would be against the provision of Article 21 of the Constitution.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the researcher are as follows:

To study about the application and scope of article 21

SCOPE OF STUDY

The scope of the study will be:

To understand the role of Article 21.

HYPOTHESIS

The hypothesis proposed by the researcher is that The Indian Constitution ensures justice, social,
economic and political to all citizens. The Indian Constitution has vested its citizen with RIGHT TO
LIFE as enshrined in Article 21 of the constitution but it is not an absolute right and comes with legal
limitation

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The researcher has used doctrinal method of research. The researcher has confined his study to
various books and scholarly articles related to Constitutional law.
Sources of data:-
a. Primary Source-The Constitution of India, 1950

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 b. Secondary source- Reference books by D.D. Basu, H.M. Servai, [Link], [Link] and
legal data resources such as JSTOR, Westlaw, Manupatra etc.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERIZATION

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: ARTICLE 21 AND RIGHT TO LIFE

CHAPTER 3: SUPREME COURTS JUDGMENT ON RAREST OF THE RARE CASE

CHAPTER 4: CRITICAL STUDY AND JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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