Page 2 - Lesson Note 9

government (the legislature, executive, bureaucracy or even the

judiciary), in the course of their functioning, may violate the rights

of the person.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION:

 During our freedom struggle, the leaders of the freedom

movement had realised the importance of rights and demanded

that the British rulers should respect rights of the people.

 The Motilal Nehru committee had demanded a bill of rights as far

back as in 1928. It was therefore, natural that when India became
independent and the Constitution was being prepared, there

were no two opinions on the inclusion and protection of rights in

the Constitution.

 The Constitution listed the rights that would be specially

protected and called them ‘fundamental rights’. The word

fundamental suggests that these rights are so important that the
Constitution has separately listed them and made special

provisions for their protection.

 Fundamental Rights are different from other rights available to us.

While ordinary legal rights are protected and enforced by ordinary

law, Fundamental Rights are protected and guaranteed by the
constitution of the country.

 Ordinary rights may be changed by the legislature by ordinary

process of law making, but a fundamental right may only be

changed by amending the Constitution itself.

 Besides this, no organ of the government can act in a manner that

violates them. As we shall study below in this chapter, judiciary