Right to Equality

Article 14 of the Indian constitution mainly deals with providing equality to all citizens. Even foreigners are applicable for the right to equality. This law is mainly for treating everyone as same before the law and to abolish discrimination based on their grounds. Article 14 Right To Equality states that the state shall not refuse to provide equality to any person before the law. Also, territories of India should also provide equal protection. Here, the complete details about Article 14 Right to Equality are explained in detail.

(Image will be uploaded soon)

What is the Meaning of Article 14? 

According to the Indian constitution’s Article 14, all the citizen’s of India should be treated equally before the law.  Article 14 of the Indian constitution are mainly ensuring equality before the law, equal protection of the law,  and access to justice.  The aim of access to justice is to maintain equality in front of the judicial system.  

Recently, the government of India has implemented the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019  (CAA) to provide citizenship to illegal migraters from three countries, who lived in India for a minimum of five years. But, the Indian government has mentioned the six religious communities in the list. So, many people thought that Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 was violated Article 14 and the controversies started among the people from various parts of the nation.  

Equality Before the Law

As India is the largest democratic country in the world, people in India have the independence to think and do anything as per their wishes without any restrictions. Also, the state has the power to impose only certain reasonable restrictions. All the states and union territories of India should treat the people equally no matter whether they are poor or rich, lower caste or upper class. Because of this, the state and territory government do not have the right to provide any special privileges for individual citizens or corporates of the country, this is also known as legal equality. 

Equality before the law also restricts the state and union territories to provide special privileges to any community or people. Also, the state or territory should not interfere with society by providing additional facilities to a particular society. 

Also, the Right to Equality is not an absolute one. It has several limitations. In this article, it is also mentioned that equals should be treated equally.  This means that the people under certain categories should be treated equally under reservation. A special immunity is provided to the President and Governor. 

Equality before the law has a direct relationship with the rule of law. According to rule of law, no one is beyond the law or above the law and everyone should be treated equally in front of the law. Also, no state should discriminate against people based on their religion, they should treat everyone as equal. The rule of law is indirectly guaranteeing people’s equality before the law. Indian constitution derived this principle from the Magna Carta, which is a charter of rights signed by the UK. This article prohibits the arbitrary power of the state.

Equal Protection of the Law 

Indian constitution acquired the equal protection of the law chapter from section 1 of the 14th Amendment Act of the US constitution. The basic principle of the equal protection of the law is to treat all persons equally, who are resides in India. Also, this law ensures that all the people inside the territory of India should be treated equally. No state or union territory has the power to discriminate against people residing in India. So, the equal protection of the law is considered as one of the positive concepts of Equality. This concept provides a positive obligation on the state to prevent violation of rights of people and to bring socio-economic changes. 

Also, the supreme court of India said that providing reservations for candidates in the admission programmes will not violate Article 14 of the Indian constitution. Because the minority section requires a reservation to sustain in the competition. 

Access to Justice

Access to justice is an important chapter in the Indian constitution’s Article 14. Access to justice means everyone inside the country has the right to access justice. The judicial system of India must treat every citizen equally. Even a person can rise for basic rights through Access to justice. All the people in the country can appeal for justice. 

Still, many people from the country do not have economical knowledge or lack awareness for access to justice. So, the government of India should create reforms in the judicial system and is required to play an important role in providing facilities for the people to access justice. 

What Do You Mean by Article 14 and Provisions of Article 14? 

Indian Constitution’s Article 14 clearly mentioned that the state or territory of the country should not stand against the person equality before the law. All the citizens of India, foreigners and corporates in India can utilize this law. All the registered societies, companies, statutory corporations, and all other types of legal persons in India have the right to utilize the right to equality. 

All the courts in India should treat all the people equally. Also, the law should be blind to provide justice for people. The court should not discriminate against people based on rich or poor, caste or any other thing. 

Also, state or union territories should not provide any privilege to any particular person in the country. Everyone should get the same punishment for the same crime. 

No discrimination should be shown among the citizens of India based on their colour, post and anything else. All should come under the law. According to the law, both the ministers and servants are equal before the law. 

All the people who belong to certain groups have similar rights to utilize the law in a similar situation. All the people are treated equally under equal circumstances. 

According to the supreme court of India, the rule of law under article 14 is the fundamental element of the constitution. So, Article 14 of the Indian constitution cannot be abolished in any way even by amending the Constitution.

List of Exceptions in Right to Equality 

In India, the ‘Rule of Equality’ is not applied completely to the citizens of India. There are some exceptions for citizens of India. The exceptions are provided based on the following circumstances and individuals.   

No person has the right to initiate or continue a criminal process in Indian courts against the president or the governor of India. 

No courts in India have the right to issue arrest warrants against the President or Government during his / her office term. 

No state’s member of legislative assemble (MLA )should be liable to any proceeding in any court for providing the statement or to any vote given by him in the state Legislature.

No country’s member of parliament (MP) should be liable to any proceeding in any court for providing the statement or to any vote given by him in the state Legislature.

In India, the United Nation and its agencies have diplomatic immunity, it was mainly allowed to maintain a good relationship between the two countries. 

All the sovereign rulers, ambassadors and diplomatic persons are free from criminal and civil cases. 

As India is a democratic country, every citizen in India should have some fundamental right to protect their democracy, which should interfere with the state or union territory of the country. The entire article is about what is Article 14 right to equality. Even today what is meaning of Article 14 is not fully followed in India. So, the Jurisdiction of India joined hands with the other two organs of state and working hard to maintain equality among the citizens of our nation. It is difficult to eradicate the inequality among people until they are aware of their rights and citizens. Every citizen in our nation has a vital role to protect their own rights.