Role of Human Rights in the Indian Judicial System

Abstract

Human rights in India derive their force not from a single code but from a constitutional architecture — Part III's fundamental rights, Part IV's directive principles, and an independent judiciary empowered under Articles 32 and 226 to enforce them. This review article examines the role that Indian courts, particularly the Supreme Court, have played in transforming a modest textual guarantee of “protection of life and personal liberty” under Article 21 into an expansive charter covering dignity, privacy, livelihood, health, a clean environment, and protection from custodial abuse. It traces the doctrinal journey from Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) through the era of public interest litigation to contemporary jurisprudence on privacy and sexual autonomy, and situates this judicial trajectory alongside the institutional architecture of the National Human Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commissions. The article further examines the human rights dimensions of the 2023 overhaul of India's criminal statutes, the persistent challenges of custodial violence, prison overcrowding, and judicial delay, and the emerging frontier of digital-age rights. It concludes that while Indian courts have been remarkably innovative in expanding the substantive content of rights, the realisation of those rights on the ground continues to depend on institutional capacity, executive compliance, and sustained public vigilance.

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