Legal Study

  14 FAMOUS CASES RELATED TO ARTICLE 21 Case Laws Related To Article 21 Right To Life And Personal Liberty ○ A.K Gopalan vs. the State of Madras, 1951 Hon’ble Supreme Court held that the protection of Article 21 is available only against the executive action. But legislative may deprive a person by making a law. ○ Maneka Gandhi vs. UOI, 1978 In this case, Hon’ble Supreme Court held that the protection of Article 21 is available not only against executive action but also against legislative. In simple words, the legislature cannot deprive a person of the right to life and personal liberty even by making a law. A person can only be deprived of his right to life and personal liberty by the procedure, which is established by law. For example, death sentence while satisfying rarest of the rare case theory.                            Scope Of Article 21 The right to life does not mean only animal existence. Under this ...

 Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India [1978 AIR 597] Introduction Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India case is regarded as the landmark judgment in the expansion of Article 21 and the interpretation of Fundamental Rights. Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution were further strengthened after this case and gave new expansion to Article 21. Before the Maneka Gandhi case, Article 21 only protected the Right to Life and Personal Liberty against the executive branch’s arbitrary actions, not from legislative action. However, this case also added protection against legislative activities. Background of Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India After the imposition of emergency, Indira Gandhi’s image was tarnished, she lost the election of 1977, and Bhartiya Janta Party was in power. During this time, her daughter-in-law, Maneka Gandhi, was running a magazine named Surya Magazine. She wanted to travel abroad regarding some democratic or human rights-related speech. While she wanted to travel, her ...