The Biggest Contribution Of Right To Life To Humanity - COI - India

The Constitution guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, which in turn cites specific provisions in which these rights are applied and enforced: Protection with respect to a conviction for offences is guaranteed under the right to life and personal liberty.

According to Article 20, no one can be awarded punishment that is more than what the law of the land prescribes at the time of the commission of the crime.

This legal axiom is based on the principle that no criminal law can be made retrospective, that is, for an act to become an offence, the essential condition is that it should have been an offence legally at the time of committing it. Moreover, no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.

Compulsion in this article refers to what in law is called duress (injury, beating or unlawful imprisonment to make a person do something that he may not want to do). This article is known as a safeguard against self-incrimination.

The other principle enshrined in this article is known as the principle of double jeopardy, that is, no person can be convicted twice for the same offence, which has been derived from Anglo-Saxon law. This principle was first established in the Magna Carta.

Protection of life and personal liberty is also stated under the right to life and personal liberty. Article 21 declares that no citizen can be denied his life and liberty except by due process of law.

This means that a person's life and personal liberty can be disputed only if that person has committed a crime. However, the right to life does not include the right to die and hence, suicide or any attempt thereof is deemed an offence (attempted suicide being interpreted as a crime has seen many debates. The Supreme Court of India gave a landmark ruling in 1994.

The court repealed section 309 of the Indian penal code, under which people attempting suicide could face prosecution and prison terms of up to one year).

In 1996, another Supreme Court ruling nullified the earlier one. But with the passage of the Mental Healthcare Bill 2017, attempted suicide has been decriminalised.

"Personal liberty" includes all the freedoms which are not included in Article 19 (that is, the six freedoms). The right to travel abroad is also covered under "personal liberty" in Article 21.

In 2002, through the 86th Amendment Act, Article 21A was incorporated. It made the right to primary education part of the right to freedom, stating that the state would provide free and compulsory education to children from six to fourteen years of age.

Six years after an amendment was made in the Indian Constitution, the Union Cabinet cleared the Right to Education Bill in 2008.

Rights of a person arrested under ordinary circumstances is laid down in the right to life and personal liberty. No one can be arrested without being told the grounds for his arrest. If arrested, the person has the right to defend himself through a lawyer of his choice.

Also, an arrested citizen has to be brought before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours.

The rights of a person arrested under ordinary circumstances are not available to an enemy alien. They are also not available to persons under any law providing for preventive detention. Under preventive detention, the government can imprison a person for a maximum of three months.

It means that if the government feels that a person being at liberty can be a threat to the law and order or to the unity and integrity of the nation, it can detain or arrest that person to prevent him from doing this possible harm.

After three months, such a case is to be brought before an advisory board for review, unless specific legislation(s) by Parliament regarding preventive detention do(es) not necessitate scrutiny by such an advisory board.