The Constitutional Right to Life Encompasses a Wide Variety of Rights;
Be Aware of Them and Jealously Guard Them!

Last week, Majeed Memon, well known criminal lawyer, addressed our Club on the topic of ‘Right to Life, as per the Constitution’. Introducing him, William Klein said, “Since he got his Law degree from Bombay University in 1973, he has become one of India’s eminent defense lawyers, and also a highly respected and outspoken defender of human rights in India. He has constantly exposed and taken to task, the public servants for corruption and abuse of power. He is a highly sought after interlocuter by the President of India and the President of the Congress Party, Mrs Gandhi and recently he joined the National Congress Party and was appointed the National secretary of the NCP. Mr Memon will address the Club on the issue of Right to Life, in accordance to Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

“Right and Life are both extremely significant things,” began Majeed Memon. “Human existence in the Universe as we all know, is definitely superior to the existence of other living beings, animals, birds, vegetables etc. because the human being is blessed with a heart that feels and a mind that thinks. In Islam, we say that your journey to death begins the day you are born. You must always remember that you are here for some time. Other religious leaders say that there is no question of your being born or your dying, you are merely a visitor to this earth. What I want to say is that life is precious. Every hour and day in life is precious. Everything centres around life.

“Right is another important phenomenon. Without rights, you would feel helpless and life would be meaningless without it in a civil, modern society. But rights, as we all know are never absolute; rights go with corresponding duties. My right to stretch my arm ends where your nose begins. I am not supposed to exercise my rights so as to breach anybody else’s right or cause any harm to anyone else.

“Right to life, the subject of the day, is the paramount right, because if there is life, there is something else. Right to Life has been enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. We are proud of having the longest written Constitution in the whole world. I have had the benefit of discussing our Constitution in many European countries, and I must say with pride that our Constitution has been appreciated by others, who are themselves also a part of a very developed and progressive part of the world. Our Constitution was written and enforced about 56 years ago and in the course of its journey, it has met several amendments, modifications etc.

“Of course, the power of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution has been of great value. Each one of you as a conscientious and enlightened citizen of this country, must have on one occasion or the other read the Constitution of India and more particularly the chapter relating to Fundamental Rights.

Of course, the Right to Life under Article 21 is a part of Fundamental Rights. What exactly does Right to Life really mean? It is something sensational that I am going to reveal.

Right to Life for a human being is not restricted to mere breathing or mere existing. Right to Life means many more things. Fundamentally, our Supreme Court expresses itself and makes it a mandate for the whole country to follow, including the rulers. Right to Life means the right to live with dignity, honour and respect. You cannot be ill-treated because you belong to a backward or poor class. Every human being under the Constitution is assured the right to live with dignity. And others must note that this particular person, whosoever she or he may be, is assured the right to live with dignity. One has a duty to honour that right of his or hers, and absolutely no authority, no right, to violate his or her dignity. In various decisions, right from A K Gopalan’s case earlier, to Maneka Gandhi, Unnikrishnan, there are a large number of cases where right to life was interpreted and explored by our apex court.

“The Constitution of India is the highest set of laws. Any other enactment, either by the parliament itself or by the Legislative Assembly are all subject to the Constitution. Anything which is enacted that is inconsistent or contradictory to what the mandate of the Constitution is, is bad law and is struck down. And therefore we must always understand what our Constitution says.

“We are talking about Article 21, Right to Life. Living with dignity alone is not enough, there are many more implied expressions which are revealed by the Honourable Supreme Court in a series of judgements to what does Right to Life include. It would be of interest to point out a few other rights which are patently concealed under the fold of Right to Life itself. In Unnikrishnan’s judgement of 1993, the SC has ennumerated eight or nine important rights which are implied in the fold of Right to Life.

“For instance:

• Right to go abroad
• Right to privacy
• Right against solitary confinement: even if you are accused of an offense, you cannot be kept in solitary confinement in an inhuman way.
• Right against bar fetters
• Right to legal aid. There was some noise sometime back that certain people need not be defended. People must understand that we display our backwardness and ignorance if we make such statements because of the outcry from the certain sections of the society. Because if we are to prove that we are a nation that is fair, even to the worst of the criminal, we must afford a fair trial.
• Right to a speedy trial
• Right against handcuffing
• Right against delayed execution. Look at Afzal’s case, where there is a controversy whether or not to hang him. Now if this controversy drags on for a long time, and if he is finally to be hanged, then it would be a violation of his Right to Life. In Article 21 of the Constitution, there is a constitutional mandate that there cannot be delayed execution; one who is to be executed must be executed without delay!
• Right against custodial violence. We read media reports of instances of custodial violence by the police, and we often hear human cries as we pass by police stations. Right against custodial violence is a part of our Right to Life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
• Right to doctor’s assistance
• Right to pollution free water and air. SC elaborates that the right to reasonable residence is a Right to Life.
• Right to food, clothing and a decent environment
• Right to education
• Right to protection of cultural heritage
• Right of Every Child to a full development.
• Right of residents of hilly areas to access to roads. It is a duty of the state to provide roads, and more so, when we have a welfare state.

“If there is a breach to any one of these, then there is a violation of Right to Life in Article 21. You can always go in a writ and ask the court to act. Your right can be enforced. These are very enlightening interpretations of the SC to the Right to Life.

“The people around me are under legal obligation to provide all this to me and nobody can take away any of these rights from me no matter how insignificant they may appear on the face of it.

“I can always be assertive about the existence of this right as a part of my right to life. The misfortune is that we are not conscious about our rights. A jurist once said, ‘Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.’ No constitution, no law, no court can do even do much to help it. So it is within ourselves that we should be assertive and conscious of our rights. If I am educated and conscious and I form part of an elite society, why should I not be assertive of my rights?

“But how do I assert my rights? If I go and tell the policeman that you are misbehaving with me and this is a violation of my right, he will still slap me and he will also tell me to put my rights and the law into my pocket. This is an unfortunate fault in the system. But that is not the law.

“Life is not just to be lived, it is to be enjoyed. We must be assertive. More often than not, if somebody violates our rights, we ignore it citing lack of time. We hesitate to move the court as we would have to visit the court time and again and may still lose the case in the end. These considerations keep us from being more assertive.

“Consider it a matter of principle that forget petty priorities like waste of time. Rest assured that if you fight such a battle successfully, it may benefit thousands of others. Therefore rise and ensure that those who breach your rights are made to apologise or are punished” Mr Memon concluded.