Introduction

A constitution does much more than describe how the organs of government are structured and how they relate to one another. As the previous chapter explained, a constitution also sets real limits on what a government may do, and it guarantees that everyone living under it enjoys certain basic rights. This chapter studies the Fundamental Rights that Part III of the Indian Constitution guarantees to every citizen, along with the limits the Constitution itself places on those rights. Over the decades since 1950, courts have interpreted -- and in some ways expanded -- what these rights actually cover. By the end of this chapter you should be able to list the different Fundamental Rights the Constitution recognises, explain how they are protected in practice, describe the role the judiciary has played in interpreting and safeguarding them, and explain how Fundamental Rights differ from the Directive Principles of State Policy.