Hussainara Khatoon versus State of Bihar, 1979, is associated with which right under Article 21?
- A.Right to a speedy trial
- B.Right to privacy
- C.Right to shelter
- D.Right to a clean environment
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, the right to a speedy trial. The petition, India's first reported public interest litigation, brought to light thousands of undertrial prisoners in Bihar jails who had been locked up longer than the maximum sentence for their alleged offence. The Court held that a speedy trial is an essential ingredient of the right to life and personal liberty and ordered their release, and it also pressed the State to provide free legal aid. Option B is wrong because privacy came from K. S. Puttaswamy, 2017. Option C is wrong because the right to shelter was recognised in Chameli Singh, 1996, and earlier in Shantistar Builders, 1990. Option D is wrong because a pollution free environment was read into Article 21 in Subhash Kumar, 1991, and developed further in the M. C. Mehta cases. Link this case with 1979, Bihar and undertrial prisoners, and the question answers itself.
Read the full article: Article 21: Right to Life, Case Laws and Exam Facts
Practice Questions
View allWhich expression is actually used in Article 21 of the Constitution of India?
- A.Due process of law
- B.Procedure established by law
- C.Equal protection of the laws
- D.Reasonable restrictions imposed by law
Show answer
Article 21 says that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law, an expression the Constituent Assembly borrowed from the Japanese Constitution.
Read the full explanation →In which case did the Supreme Court hold that the procedure under Article 21 must be fair, just and reasonable, and not arbitrary?
- A.A. K. Gopalan versus State of Madras
- B.Maneka Gandhi versus Union of India
- C.ADM Jabalpur versus Shivkant Shukla
- D.Kharak Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh
Show answer
A seven-judge bench held that a procedure which takes away life or personal liberty must be fair, just and reasonable, gave personal liberty the widest amplitude, and tied Articles 14, 19 and 21 together as the golden triangle.
Read the full explanation →Article 21A, which makes elementary education a fundamental right, was inserted by which Constitutional Amendment?
- A.42nd Amendment, 1976
- B.44th Amendment, 1978
- C.86th Amendment, 2002
- D.93rd Amendment, 2005
Show answer
It inserted Article 21A, which directs the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years, recast Article 45 to cover early childhood care and education below six years, and added clause k to Article 51A, making it a fundamental duty…
Read the full explanation →The right to privacy was declared a fundamental right under Article 21 in which case?
- A.K. S. Puttaswamy versus Union of India
- B.Kharak Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh
- C.M. P. Sharma versus Satish Chandra
- D.Govind versus State of Madhya Pradesh
Show answer
The judgment also laid down that a law invading privacy must have legal backing, serve a legitimate State aim and be proportionate.
Read the full explanation →The doctrine that the death sentence should be imposed only in the rarest of rare cases was laid down in which case?
- A.Jagmohan Singh versus State of Uttar Pradesh, 1973
- B.Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab, 1980
- C.Machhi Singh versus State of Punjab, 1983
- D.Mithu versus State of Punjab, 1983
Show answer
A Constitution Bench upheld the death penalty as consistent with Article 21 but held that it may be awarded only in the rarest of rare cases, where the alternative of life imprisonment is unquestionably foreclosed, and that courts must weigh aggravating against mitigating circumstances.
Read the full explanation →