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Kanishka Narayan Tiwari,
Babu Banarsi Das University (BBDU)
INTRODUCTION
In, India there are many rights given to citizens for their benefits and better future and better way of life and peace but it is very clear that before independence that citizens of India has no fundamental rights after independence and framing of constitution there are major rights gets recognized and given to citizen but in this article we are not going to discuss that we are here to discuss those rights which are underestimated by citizens of India and not known by major population of India .
There are some major four underrated rights in India such as:
1. Right to health
2. Right to privacy
3. Right to internet
4. Right to timely justice
So, these are some of rights given to citizens of India which are underestimated by citizen themselves and many of them are not even aware about these rights.
RIGHT TO HEALTH[i]
Before 75 years from today the population of India was 36 crores and the life expectancy was 35 years and in current time these both two factors increased, India is 145th in the list of Health care access and quality index. In constitution of India Right to Health is not mentioned differently but it is protected in one of the strongest Fundamental Rights Article 21. Not just constitution but also Supreme
Court of India also stated Right to health is very strong right given to citizens of India and also mentioned that Right to Health includes :
a) Physical Health
b) Mental Health
c) Social well being
Recent major developments in area of health:
i. Ayushman Bharat Yojana this scheme gives free access to health insurances to low-income earners bottom 50 percent of the Indian population qualifies for this scheme 4 corers people get free hospitalized treatment.
ii. India is polio free since 2014.
iii. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan helped in decreasing communicable diseases.
iv. National Health Mission has major impact on healthcare system whose primary focus is on Disease control, Prevention, Surveillance.
Even after all these steps: poor, underprivileged, disabled suffers the most. As per report in the year of 2015 1.6 million people died in India due to lack of access to proper healthcare.
RIGHTS TO PRIVAVCY[ii]
Right to privacy is important as we always provide our information in public forum such as in banks, hospitals on our social media etc. So, to prevent the any misuse of our personal information Right to privacy is necessary. This right is also get protected by Article 21 of Indian Constitution.
“RIGHT TO PRIVACY IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE RIGHT”
By this it means that this right can be get surrendered when the matter of greater and public good arises. In India Right to privacy was in hot topics during the matter of Aadhar Card as it demanded the all-personal information of the citizens, against this UIDAI said that personal data of all citizens of India is stored under highest security and its access is also very restricted.
In the importance of Privacy: DATA PROTECTION ACT[iii] has been passed in which how should digital personal data used and stored is clearly mentioned under this act.
RIGHT TO INTERNET[iv]
On 19th September 2017 Supreme Court of India recognizes Right to Internet for the first time and Kerla became the first Indian state to declare internet a basic human right means it is a duty of state to ensure that every area of state has internet connection or not. But in many cases internet can be shut down by the government specially when the Section 144[v] of CrPC6 is imposed as there is a fear of miscommunication and spread of rumour through internet which can create conflicts and disturbs peace and harmony in the particular area.
In 2023, there were total 9 internet shut down occurred between 1st of January to 30th of June.
Internet shut down is necessary to maintain peace, law and order during sensitive times but it can also create many hindrances as it can create major bad impact on development. In the absence of Right to internet there are many other major rights get affected like: Right to education, right to freedom of speech and expression, right to do a business etc.
RIGHT TO TIMELY JUSTICE[vi]
“JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED”
This statement well defines this right it is a not just a right but an urgent requirement of India, there are many major cases are pending and still people are fighting for the justice as the process of court is very long and never ending. People of India is not aware that timely justice is there right and think that it is just a nature of legal system of India and not anyone fault.
There are many very sensitive cases in India which got justice after the legal fights of many years such: Nirbhaya Case[vii] get justice after 7 years 3 months of legal fights, similarly Bhopal gas tragedy case[viii], Arushi Murder Case10 got justice after fighting very long legal battle for years.
India has 21 judges per million population, across court there are more than 20 per cent of vacancy per year. In India 6 million cases got delay because of non-availability of lawyers, more than 1 million cases are delayed as they await some kind of document or record. This efficiency is not acceptable specially when everything is digital due to which India’s judiciary system is facing an increasing lack of trust by public.
CONCLUSION
Indian are not aware about their power that their rights hold for them as some of most underrated rights mentioned above that every citizen should know for their benefit and peaceful life, citizens of underestimated the power of their right and many of them even are not aware about their rights which can major consequences such as fraud and not able to ask for help.
India is very diverse country and has highest population in the world suppressing China in 2023 so it become very tough task to create awareness about laws but there are many major steps should be taken by the government of India such as:
By, educating citizens of India about their legal system.
Increasing literacy rate in India can help to create awareness.
Making legal studies compulsory in schools and by teaching basic fundamental rights of India to students.
Spreading awareness in remote areas and villages of India.
These simple steps can help citizens of India to recognize and learn more about their own legal system and help them to stop any type of injustice which happen to them. By, knowing the rights of an individual crime rate can also be decreased as it makes people attentive about their surrounding and know what is right and wrong in the eye of law.[ix]
According to me, as a youth of India proper knowledge of legal rights as well as legal duties is very important for having peaceful society in any nation.
REFERENCES
[i] Right to health: Under Article 21 of Indian Constitution Act 1950
[ii] Right to privacy: Under Article 21 of Indian Constitution Act 1950
[iii] Data Protection Act: (DPDP) IN 2023
[iv] Right to internet (2017): Under Article 19 (1) (a) of the constitution
[v] Section 144: Prohibits the assembly of four or more people in area CrPC: Code of Criminal Procedure
[vi] Right to timely Justice: Under Article 21 of Indian Constitution
[vii] Nirbhaya Case: (2017) 6 SCC 1
[viii] Bhopal gas tragedy case: (1990) AIR 273 1989 SCC
[ix] Arushi Murder Case: (2013) 82 ACC 303
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