Article 14 and Article 21
Constitutional Foundations of Anti-Discrimination
The constitutional challenge to anti-beggary provisions targeting leprosy-affected persons rests on two foundational articles.
- Article 14: Guarantees equality before law and equal protection of laws. The classification of leprosy-affected persons as a distinct sub-category within anti-beggary law fails the test of reasonable classification — there is no rational nexus between having leprosy (a curable disease) and the legislative object of preventing begging
- Article 21: Guarantees the right to life and personal liberty. The Supreme Court has expansively interpreted Article 21 to include the right to live with dignity (Francis Coralie Mullin v. UT of Delhi, 1981), the right to health (Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity v. State of WB, 1996), and freedom from discrimination based on disability or disease condition
- Article 17: Abolishes untouchability. Courts have analogised the social stigma and forced exclusion faced by leprosy-affected persons to the untouchability context
- The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (now replaced by RPwD Act, 2016) also covers persons with leprosy — the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD) explicitly includes leprosy-cured persons as persons with disabilities under Section 2
● Tracked since March 10, 2026 · last seen September 09, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
See it in today’s brief.
Daily current affairs with every static concept explained in place.
Read the daily brief