KSLU Solved Question Papers
Human Rights Law and Practice
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.Com. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 8
2022 Oct (70 marks) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.Com. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 8 Human Rights Law and Practice 2022 Oct (70 marks) Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 2 November 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2022 Oct (70 marks) examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2022 Oct (70 marks) examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2022 Oct (70 marks) 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.
Total marks 70 · 12 questions answered
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.
Q1Explain the meaning and nature of Human Rights.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the meaning of human rights (the words "human" and "rights", the statutory definition in section 2(1)(d) of the 1993 Act); their nature in nine points (rooted in dignity, universal, inalienable, indivisible and interdependent, both negative and positive, matched by duties, limited but with a non-derogable core, growing, enforceable), each with an instrument or a case (UDHR, Vienna Declaration 1993, ICCPR article 4(2), Francis Coralie Mullin, Unni Krishnan, Puttaswamy, NALSA); a conclusion.
Meaning
The phrase has two parts. "Human" shows who holds the rights: every person, because he or she is a human being. "Rights" shows what they are: claims that others, above all the State, must respect.
So human rights are the basic claims every person can make in order to live with dignity. They do not depend on citizenship, wealth, caste, sex or religion.
Indian law gives a working definition. Under section 2(1)(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, human rights are "the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual". They must be guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India.
Nature of human rights
1. Rooted in human dignity. Dignity is the reason the rights exist. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 opens by recognising the "inherent dignity" of all members of the human family. In Francis Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi, (1981) 1 SCC 608, a detenu could meet her lawyer only once a month. The Supreme Court held that the right to life includes the right to live with human dignity. It said every act which offends against human dignity is a deprivation of this right.
2. Universal. They belong to all people everywhere. The Vienna Declaration 1993, paragraph 5, accepts that national and regional differences must be borne in mind. But it is the duty of States, whatever their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights.
3. Inalienable. A person cannot sell or surrender them, and the State cannot take them away at will. It can only limit them by law, for the reasons the law allows.
4. Indivisible and interdependent. The same paragraph of the Vienna Declaration says that "all human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated". Civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights must be treated "on the same footing, and with the same emphasis".
5. Both negative and positive. Some rights only ask the State not to interfere, such as freedom of speech. Others ask it to act, such as the right to education. In Unni Krishnan, J.P. v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1993 AIR 2178, the Court held that every child has a fundamental right to free education until fourteen. It said article 21 has "both a negative and an affirmative dimension".
6. Matched by duties. Rights come with duties. Article 29(1) of the Universal Declaration says, "Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible."
7. Limited, but with a core that cannot be suspended. Under article 29(2) of the Declaration, rights may be limited by law. The limits must serve the rights of others and the just needs of morality, public order and the general welfare. But some rights may never be suspended. Article 4(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights names the articles that can never be suspended, even in an emergency. They are articles 6, 7, 8(1) and (2), 11, 15, 16 and 18. These cover life, freedom from torture and slavery, and freedom of thought and religion.
8. Growing. The list of human rights is not closed. New rights are recognised as society changes:
- In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1, the Court held privacy protected as an intrinsic part of article 21.
- In National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438, it upheld a transgender person's right to decide their self-identified gender.
- On 28 July 2022 the General Assembly, by resolution 76/300, recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right.
9. Enforceable. A right needs a remedy. In India, articles 32 and 226 let a person go directly to the Supreme Court or a High Court. The 1993 Act set up the National and State Human Rights Commissions to inquire into violations.
Conclusion. Human rights are the basic claims of every person to live with dignity. Section 2(1)(d) of the 1993 Act ties them to life, liberty, equality and dignity. By nature they rest on dignity, are universal, inalienable, indivisible and interdependent, and carry duties. They may be limited by law but have a core that cannot be suspended. They keep growing, as Puttaswamy and NALSA show, and the courts and Commissions make them real.
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