Right of Life and Personal Liberty in India- New Dimensions

Abstract

Right to life is the basic need of every human being. Without right to life we cannot dream of civilized society and the state. If the state will not protect the lives of its citizens then the citizens will always feel insure.

‘Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.’ The right to life is undoubtedly the most fundamental of all rights. All other rights add quality to the life in question and depend on the pre-existence of life itself for their operation. As human rights can only attach to living beings, one might expect the right to life itself to be in some sense primary, since none of the other rights would have any value or utility without it. There would have been no Fundamental Rights worth mentioning if Article 21 had been interpreted in its original sense. This chapter will examine the right to life as interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court of India.