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ABSTRACT
Right to life in the British India was not guaranteed as a constitutional right. However, its demand was tremendous. After Independence, it was incorporated in the Constitution under Article 21. However, it was not an absolute fundamental right, but could be taken away by an ordinary legislation. In early judicial challenges, it could not be recognized as a part of basic structure. Life, under right to life, was literally interpreted as a vegetative or an animal life. However, Maneka Gandhi case was a big bang in its evolutionary history, wherein the Supreme Court of India distinguished human life with an animal life, and held that it included all amenities necessary for human dignity. After recognition of the basic structure of the Constitution, it was also accepted as a part of the basic structure, which could not be taken away even by a constitutional amendment.
KEY WORDS: Right to life, Basic Structure of Constitution, Article 21, Indian Constitution, Fundamental Right.
Introduction
The Indian constitutional history of conflict between Parliament, Judiciary and Executive revolves around the power of judicial review of a constitutional amendment under 13(2), the extent of power of Parliament to amend the Constitution under Article 368 and the abridgement of fundamental rights protected under Articles 14, 19 generally and 21 in particular. This paper examines that although right to life was never guaranteed in the British Raj, but a consensus was developing to include it, along with other fundamental rights, in the expected Constitution, after the election of 1946. Although its incorporation was one of the most debated issues, however, it finally got its place in the Constitution, under Article 21. The article highlights that how, at the outset, it suffered setbacks from the judicial interpretation. Instead of being recognized as a part of basic structure of the Constitution, right to life was confined to a vegetative or equal to an animal life. Finally, the research focuses on the judicial activism, which not only unchained right to life from the shackle of rigid judicial approach, but enriched it with a lot of penumbra rights; how right to life eventually was recognized as a part of basic structure of the Constitution, along with other fundamental rights.
From Rigid Approach to Recognition
The spike-story...