INTRODUCTION
In general, everyone here can understand Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which is “The Right to Equality”. Even after 73 years of independence, our country cannot find true freedom. Evil-like evil is still rampant in our country. The one who created our Constitution was also affected by this curse. There are still other areas where people are not treated equally and are discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, gender, race, ethnic origin, etc.
Article 14 basically states that “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”.
To treat all citizens equally is the basic concept of liberalism and Article 14 ensures the same to our citizens. The liberty of any person is directly connected to the equality he/she is getting in society.
Our country as we all know is a democratic country and is actually the largest democratic country in the world. Here they are all independent to think about anything, to do anything (with reasonable restrictions) and our situation exists to set reasonable boundaries. By law, all people in the territory of our country should be treated equally.
Equality before the law basically means that all people should be treated equally whether they are poor or rich, male or female, high or low. This province cannot grant special rights to anyone in the country. It is also known as legal equality.
Equality before the law and absolute equality
On the other hand, Equality before the law prohibits the granting of any special right to any community or persons. It does not speak of equal treatment in equal cases. According to it, there should be a very good situation and the state does not need to interfere with the community by providing additional rights to the community.
Right to Equality, on the other hand, is incomplete and has a few exceptions. Likewise, equals should be treated equally. Equality before the Act has several variations, for example, Protection provided by the President and the Governor. Booking is also a common example of the fact that the Right to Equality is incomplete and limited (or rather used properly) according to the needs of the community.
In the most famous case of the Western Province of Bengal v. Anwar Ali Sarkar, the question of whether the Right to Equality is complete or not was raised. Here the Supreme Court holds that the Right to Equality is incomplete. In this case, the Bengal Government was found to be abusing its power to appeal any case to the Special Court. It was therefore held that the Bengal Regional Act violates the Right to Equality.
ACCESS TO JUSTICE
By equality before the law, it means everyone has access to justice. No one can be barred from access to justice. Here all should be treated equally in front of the judicial system. The word “Access to Justice” includes some basic rights of a person. By term access to justice, we mean that every person should have the right to appear in court.
Also, there are many people who are deprived of access to justice due to economical knowledge or due to lack of awareness. Here it means that the government needs to play a vital role in providing justice to them. For granting Access to Justice we need to reform our judicial system. We need to work on the legal aid system.
NO EQUALITY IS ILLEGAL
There can be no equality before the law for a person who has done wrong. A person who commits illegal acts cannot claim the Right to Equality before a court or justice system. The case of Baliram Prasad Singh v. The State Of Bihar of the Patna High Court clearly states that there can be no equality of illegal acts as the applicant was the one at fault, therefore, he was made to compensate for his illegal act.
CONCLUSION
Finally, I would like to conclude that since our country is a democracy we have been given certain basic rights for every citizen and we ensure that these rights should not be violated by anyone or even the state. The Right to Equality provided for by our constitution does not actually work properly even after such a legal obligation has been imposed on our justice system. Our judiciary and the other two organs of state are working very hard to maintain equality among all citizens of our country and until citizens do not know their rights it becomes very difficult to end inequality. Citizens’ role played a vital role in the protection of their rights.
The right to equality needed to be exercised in a practical way so that no one would be deprived of his rights. From Mahatma Gandhi to Bhim Rao Ambedkar everyone dreams of a world where there is no place for racism.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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