Article 21

Why it matters

• Serves as the bedrock of fundamental rights, expanding to include rights such as privacy, clean environment, and speedy trial through judicial interpretation.
• Acts as a limitation on executive action, ensuring that any state interference with life or liberty must be backed by a valid, fair, and reasonable legal framework.
• Functions as the primary mechanism for judicial activism, allowing the judiciary to protect individual dignity against arbitrary state power.

How it is asked

Focus on the evolution of the 'due process of law' doctrine in India and the expansion of the scope of personal liberty through landmark judicial precedents.