Equality Before Law & Equal Protection Of Laws

Introduction

As stated in Article 14, “Right to Equality” was proposed to gain equal rights over discrimination of any kind for both the citizens and the non-citizens of India. Castes, sex, religion, place of origin and other factors are there for the common discriminatory issues. Article 14 is divided into many parts, two of them are- “Equality before Laws and Equal Protection of Laws”. As the concept of ‘equality before laws’ which is adopted from a British concept, states that the people living in India can claim the basic rights of this country equally regardless of being poor or rich, low-ranked or high-ranked officials, creed or caste differences or other gender discriminations. The “equal protection of laws” on the other hand taken from the US constitution which speaks about the law should be applied fairly to all the people living in India.

Polity

Article 14

Article 14 ensures that the “Equality to the Law” for “Right to Equality” finds a firm place in all their written constitutions which can guarantee the fundamental rights irrespective of the discriminatory factors. The right to equality can provide equal treatment for all the citizens and non-citizens living in India even before the law itself. This prevents equality on different grounds, treating all the people as equals, be it in public employment or abolishing untouchability or casteism. Article 14 ensures to include all the human rights regarding liberty, life, freedom from torture and slavery, freedom of expression, opinions, work, education and so on. 

“Article 14 of the Constitution of India states -The state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India“. Article 14 protects all the rights, to prevent discrimination regarding providing the rights under the Human Rights Act (1993).

Equality before Laws in India

India is a ‘sovereign socialist secular democratic republic’  country as mentioned in our preamble. It is also mentioned that social, economic and political justice should be provided for all. The liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and opportunities and fraternity assuring an individual’s dignity and unity of the nation should be maintained. Under Article 14, the equality before law aligns well with the equality part of our preamble too. That said-in this territory people have every basic right to do, work as per their skills and requirements and they can not be discriminated against anyway. 

Equal protection of laws  in India

According to this law, which aligns with the previously stated Equality before Laws, it also states that-all the rights for equality for the people living in Indian territory should be protected under this law. This law guarantees that all the people inside this territory should be equally treated, and even the states have no permission to deny this law. This law though has put some positive obligation on the states for preventing rights to get violated due to some extreme socio-economic circumstances. 

Equality before Law & Equal protection of laws Origins

Origin of “Equality before Laws”

The fundamentals of this law have been taken from the ‘Magna Carta’, which is the pact or charter of the rights signed in the UK regarding the prohibition of the monopolistic power of states. This pact or the ‘Green Charter’  signed by King John stated that the basic human rights to be protected under this pact and also their churches should remain free from government interference. It also stated that people’s rights of inheritance of properties and their basic needs should be protected from excess taxes. This pact also claimed the protection of widow marriage rights and the protection of people from bribery and official misconduct as well.

Origin of “Equal Protection of Laws”

The Equal Protection of Laws has been obtained from Section 1 of the 14th Amendment Act of the US constitution. The whole concept of this law is to protect all the rights under this law for US residents. According to this Act, no state has the approval to formulate or enforce any laws which can minimise or degrade the immunity and the privileges of the US citizens. This act also protected the rights of properties and liberty of living for their citizens. As per this act, all the people who are either born or naturalised in the USA come under the protection of this law and the states in this country. Section 1 of this 14th Amendment includes some clauses including the privilege or immunity clause, the citizenship clause, due process clause and the “Equal Protection Clause“.

Conclusion

All the people under the ‘equality before laws’ should be treated equally in terms of genders, economic background, castes, or any other factors. The rights regarding working, having education, freedom of speech or expression is given to all those who are living under the territory of India.  Article 14 also ensures or guarantees to provide civil, social, legal, natural, political, economic equality before the laws. The equal protection of laws is for every person in the territory of India and the states also can not deny this law.