KSLU Solved Question Papers
Human Rights Law and Practice
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 8
2025 Jun Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 8 Human Rights Law and Practice 2025 Jun Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2025 Jun examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Jun examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025 Jun examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note/problem is compulsory. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English/Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Trace the evolution of the concept of Human Rights.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: a definition (the general meaning and section 2(1)(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993); the ancient roots (natural law, Greece, Rome, the Indian idea of dharma); the English documents (Magna Carta 1215, Petition of Right 1628, Habeas Corpus Act 1679, Bill of Rights 1689); the revolutions (1776, 1789, 1791); the early international steps (the minorities treaties and the ILO); the United Nations era (Charter 1945, UDHR 1948, Covenants 1966, Vienna 1993); the Indian story (Part III, Maneka Gandhi, the 1993 Act); a short evaluation.
Meaning of human rights
Human rights are the rights a person has simply because he or she is a human being. They do not depend on nationality, sex, caste, religion or wealth. They protect life, liberty, equality and dignity.
Indian law gives a statutory definition. Section 2(1)(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 defines human rights as "the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India".
The idea is old. The legal protection of it is new. The development can be traced in six stages.
Stage 1: ancient roots in natural law
- Greece. In Sophocles' play Antigone (around 441 BCE), Antigone disobeys the king's order. She says his edict cannot override the "unwritten and unfailing" laws of the gods. This is the first statement of a law above the ruler.
- The Stoics taught that reason is common to all human beings. So one law applies to all, and a person is a citizen of the world. This is the root of universality.
- Rome. Cicero wrote that true law is right reason in agreement with nature, of universal application. Roman lawyers separated ius naturale (law of nature) from the law of the State.
- Medieval Europe. Thomas Aquinas held that a human law which departs from natural law is not law but a corruption of law.
- India. The idea of dharma placed the king under a duty to protect his subjects. Ashoka's edicts preached tolerance and humane treatment. These were duties of rulers, not enforceable rights of subjects.
Stage 2: the English documents
England turned the idea into legal machinery.
- Magna Carta (15 June 1215). Chapter 39 said no free man shall be imprisoned or destroyed except by lawful judgment or the law of the land. The king was placed under the law.
- Petition of Right 1628. It protested against taxation without Parliament and imprisonment without cause shown.
- Habeas Corpus Act 1679. It gave a speedy remedy against unlawful detention.
- Bill of Rights 1689. It limited the Crown and protected free elections and free speech in Parliament.
Stage 3: natural rights and the revolutions
In the seventeenth century, natural law became natural rights. John Locke argued that every person has rights to life, liberty and property, and that government holds power on trust to protect them.
These ideas entered State documents:
- The Virginia Declaration of Rights (12 June 1776) and the American Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776). All men are created equal, with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 August 1789). Article 1 says men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
- The United States Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments, ratified on 15 December 1791.
These rights were national. They bound only one State towards its own people.
Stage 4: the first international steps
Before 1945, a State's treatment of its own people was its own business. There were narrow exceptions:
- the movement to abolish the slave trade;
- the minorities treaties of 1919 to 1920 after the First World War; and
- the International Labour Organization, founded in 1919 by Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles, which set labour standards.
Stage 5: the United Nations era
The atrocities of the Second World War changed everything. Human rights became a matter of international concern.
| Year | Step |
|---|---|
| 1945 | UN Charter (signed 26 June, in force 24 October): Preamble, Articles 1(3), 55 and 56 |
| 1946 | Commission on Human Rights set up under Article 68 |
| 1948 | Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December, resolution 217 A (III) |
| 1966 | ICCPR and ICESCR adopted on 16 December (in force 1976) |
| 1993 | Vienna World Conference; High Commissioner created by resolution 48/141 |
| 2006 | Human Rights Council replaces the Commission (resolution 60/251) |
Regional systems also grew: the European Convention (1950), the American Convention (1969) and the African Charter (1981). Specialised treaties followed for women (CEDAW 1979) and children (CRC 1989).
Stage 6: development in India
- The freedom struggle demanded a bill of rights. The Nehru Report of 1928 and the Karachi Resolution of 1931 listed fundamental rights.
- The Constitution (1950) placed civil rights in Part III (enforceable under Article 32) and social rights in Part IV (Directive Principles).
- The courts widened these rights. In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 597 (decided 25 January 1978), the petitioner's passport was impounded without reasons or a hearing. The Supreme Court held that the procedure under Article 21 must be right, just and fair, not arbitrary. Article 21 then grew to include speedy trial, legal aid, livelihood and a clean environment.
- The Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 created the National and State Human Rights Commissions and Human Rights Courts.
Evaluation
The development shows a clear movement. Rights began as moral claims against rulers. They became national legal rights after 1689, 1776 and 1789. After 1945 they became international law. The gap that remains is enforcement, because many international bodies can only recommend.
Conclusion. Human rights began as the natural law idea of a law above the ruler. Magna Carta and the revolutionary declarations made them national legal rights. The UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of 1948 and the two Covenants of 1966 made them international law. India received them in Part III of the Constitution and widened them through cases such as Maneka Gandhi. The Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 then gave them statutory machinery.
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