B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 8 Human Rights Law and Practice 2022 Oct (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: what human rights are (the idea, the statutory meaning in section 2(1)(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, and five essential features); the kinds by content: civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, with UDHR articles and examples; the kinds by holder: individual rights, collective rights of peoples and minorities, and the rights of specially protected groups (women, children, persons with disabilities); the kinds by the duty they impose (negative and positive rights); the kinds by strength (absolute and qualified rights; ICCPR Article 4(2); Articles 20 and 21 after the Forty-fourth Amendment); the kinds by time of recognition (the three generations); the kinds by legal status in India: fundamental rights, other constitutional rights (Articles 300A and 326), statutory rights and Directive Principles; the cases (Unni Krishnan, J.P. v. State of Andhra Pradesh, National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla); the limits of any classification; a summary table; a conclusion.

Kinds of human rights by content

The Universal Declaration of 1948 and the two Covenants of 1966 group rights by what they protect. There are five kinds.

1. Civil rights protect the person's life, body and freedom. Examples are the rights to life, liberty and security (UDHR Article 3), and freedom from slavery and torture (Articles 4 and 5). Others are equality before law, fair trial and privacy (Articles 7, 10 and 12). Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is also a civil right (Article 18).
2. Political rights let a person take part in public life. They include freedom of expression (Article 19) and of peaceful assembly and association (Article 20). They also include the right to take part in government and to vote in genuine elections (Article 21).
3. Economic rights concern work and livelihood. They include the right to work, to just and favourable conditions, to equal pay and to form trade unions (Article 23). They also cover rest and leisure (Article 24).

In National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, AIR 2014 SC 1863, transgender persons had no place in official records as male or female. They were shut out of ration cards, passports and jobs. The Supreme Court recognised a "third gender", upheld each person's right to decide his or her own gender identity, and directed reservation for them. The case shows a whole group being brought within human rights protection.

Kinds of rights by the duty they impose

1. Negative rights ask the State mainly to hold back. The State respects freedom of speech or religion by not interfering with it.
2. Positive rights ask the State to act and provide. The rights to education, health care or social security need schools, hospitals and money.

The line is not sharp. Even a "negative" right such as a fair trial needs courts, judges and legal aid, which cost money. And a "positive" right such as housing also forbids the State from destroying people's homes without a fair procedure.

2. Qualified rights may be limited by law for stated purposes, such as public order, health, morals or the rights of others. Freedom of expression, assembly and movement are of this kind.

India learnt the importance of this kind the hard way. In ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla, AIR 1976 SC 1207, during the Emergency, a Presidential order suspended the right to move any court for Articles 14, 21 and 22. A majority of the Supreme Court held that no detenu could seek habeas corpus, even against an illegal detention. The Forty-fourth Amendment of 1978 then provided that Articles 20 and 21 can never be suspended. In 2017 the nine-Judge Bench in Puttaswamy expressly overruled ADM Jabalpur.

Kinds of rights by the time of their recognition

Writers also group rights by the period in which they were recognised.

1. First generation: civil and political rights, from the revolutions of the eighteenth century.
2. Second generation: economic, social and cultural rights, from the industrial age and the labour movement.
3. Third generation: solidarity rights of peoples, such as development, peace and a healthy environment, from the era of decolonisation.

These kinds are not fixed. In Unni Krishnan, J.P. v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1993 AIR 2178, private colleges challenged limits on the fees they could charge. The Supreme Court held that citizens have a fundamental right to education flowing from Article 21. Every child has a right to free education until the age of fourteen. A social goal in the Directive Principles thus became a fundamental right. Parliament later wrote it into the Constitution as Article 21A.

The limits of any classification

1. Rights are indivisible. The Vienna Declaration of 1993 says all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. A person who cannot read cannot use free speech fully, and a hungry person cannot enjoy liberty.
2. One right can belong to several kinds. Education is a social right, a cultural right and, in India, a fundamental right.
3. Kinds change over time. Courts and legislatures move rights from one class to another, as the right to education shows.

Summary

Conclusion. Human rights are the inherent and universal rights of every person, which Indian law ties to life, liberty, equality and dignity. They can be grouped by content into civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. By holder they are individual, collective and group-specific. They may be negative or positive, absolute or qualified, and of the first, second or third generation, and in India they differ in legal status. The categories are tools, not walls. Olga Tellis and Unni Krishnan show rights moving between kinds. ADM Jabalpur shows why some rights must be beyond suspension, and NALSA shows protection reaching new groups.