LL.B. (Three Years) Sem 4 Human Rights Law and Practice Oct 2025 Question Paper with Solutions

2. Second generation: economic, social and cultural rights (equality).
3. Third generation: solidarity rights such as development and environment (fraternity).

What first-generation rights are

First-generation rights are the oldest human rights. They grew out of the liberal revolutions. Their landmarks are the English Bill of Rights, the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. Their aim was to protect the individual against the power of the State.

Their features.

1. Negative in form. They mostly require the State to refrain from interfering, for example not to torture or censor.
2. Immediately enforceable. They do not depend on the State's resources.
3. Justiciable. Courts can enforce them.
4. Individual. They belong to each person.
5. A duty to respect and ensure. Under Article 2(1) of the ICCPR, the State must respect and ensure them. So even these rights call for some positive action, such as fair courts and police protection.

Non-derogable rights. Even in an emergency, some rights cannot be suspended. They include the right to life (Article 6), freedom from torture (Article 7) and freedom from slavery (Article 8(1) and (2)). No one may be imprisoned for failure to fulfil a contract (Article 11). Also included are no retroactive criminal law (Article 15), recognition as a person (Article 16) and freedom of thought and religion (Article 18).

How Part III secures them

Part III of the Constitution (Articles 12 to 35) contains India's fundamental rights. Most of them are first-generation rights.

1. Equality (Articles 14 to 18).

1. Article 14: equality before the law and equal protection of the laws.
2. Article 15: no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
3. Article 16: equality of opportunity in public employment.
4. Article 17: abolition of untouchability.
5. Article 18: abolition of titles.

2. Freedom (Articles 19 to 22).

1. Procedure must be fair. In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 597, a passport was impounded without a hearing. The Supreme Court held that the procedure under Article 21 must be fair, just and reasonable, not arbitrary. Articles 14, 19 and 21 are read together.
2. Life means life with dignity. In Francis Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi, (1981) 1 SCC 608, a detenu could meet her lawyer and family only once a month. The Court held that the right to life includes the right to live with human dignity, and struck down the restriction.
3. Privacy. In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1, nine judges held that privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21, matching Article 17 of the ICCPR.
4. Equality and dignity for sexual minorities. In Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, AIR 2018 SC 4321, section 377 of the Penal Code was held to violate Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21, so far as it criminalised consensual acts of adults in private.
5. Custody and arrest. In D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal, AIR 1997 SC 610, the Court laid down requirements for every arrest and detention, to prevent torture and custodial death.

2. Procedure established by law. Life and liberty may be taken away under Article 21, but only by a law whose procedure is fair, just and reasonable (Maneka Gandhi).
3. Emergency. During an emergency, the enforcement of some rights may be suspended under Article 359. But since the Forty-fourth Amendment of 1978, the enforcement of Articles 20 and 21 can never be suspended. This answers the experience of the Emergency.

The ICCPR follows the same pattern. Some rights may be limited by law for a legitimate aim, and some may be suspended in an emergency. But the non-derogable rights stay in force.

A worked example

The police in a town detain a journalist overnight for a critical article, without telling him why or producing him before a magistrate. Several first-generation rights are engaged. His freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(a) is restricted without a lawful ground. His personal liberty under Article 21 is taken without fair procedure. His rights under Article 22 to know the grounds of arrest and to be produced within twenty-four hours are denied. He may move the High Court under Article 226 or the Supreme Court under Article 32 for habeas corpus and compensation.

Conclusion

Conclusion. First-generation human rights are the civil and political rights that protect the individual against the State. They include life, liberty, equality, fair trial and the freedoms of speech, religion and association. They are found in Articles 3 to 21 of the Universal Declaration and in the ICCPR, and some of them can never be suspended. In India, Part III secures them through Articles 14 to 32, enforced by the Supreme Court under Article 32. The courts have widened them, requiring fair procedure (Maneka Gandhi) and recognising dignity (Francis Coralie Mullin), privacy (Puttaswamy) and sexual autonomy (Navtej Singh Johar). Gaps remain on torture and on individual complaints to the UN.