Salient features of Fundamental Rights
- The Indian Constitution guarantees and protects fundamental rights.
- The Parliament has the power and authority to restrict the fundamental rights on reasonable grounds, however, such restrictions can only be made for a fixed period of time. The grounds based on which the fundamental rights are restricted by the parliament will be reviewed by the judiciary for reasonability. Therefore, fundamental rights are neither absolute nor sacrosanct.
- Fundamental Rights can be suspended in the case of national emergencies however, the rights guaranteed under Articles 20 and 21 will still be applicable. In the case of military rule, fundamental rights can be restricted in any area within the Indian territory.
- The Constitution of India enables an individual to move directly to the Supreme Court of India for the enforcement of their fundamental right in case they are violated or restricted. The fundamental rights are thus justiciable.
The fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution of India have certain features that establish their uniqueness, these are:
- Some of the Fundamental rights are available only to the citizens of India while some are available to everyone such as Indian citizens, foreign citizens, or even companies and corporations.
- The state can impose reasonable restrictions on these rights, thus making them qualified and not absolute.
- These fundamental rights are defended and guaranteed by the Supreme Court of India, hence the aggrieved party can directly move to the Supreme Court on the infringement of these rights.
- These rights can be suspended during the operation of a National Emergency except the rights defined under Article 20 and 21.
- The application of these rights can be restricted when a military rule is imposed under abnormal circumstances to restore order (Article 34) and is very different from the imposition of a national emergency.
- The application of these rights can be restricted or abrogated by the parliament (Article 33), rights of armed forces, police forces, intelligence agencies, etc. can be restricted by this Article.
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