Right against Exploitation & Freedom of Religion (Articles 23–28) — KSLU Constitutional Law Notes

Right against Exploitation & Freedom of Religion (Articles 23–28)

• Article 23 prohibits traffic in human beings, begar and forced labour — including labour for less than the minimum wage (People’s Union for Democratic Rights, the Asiad case, 1982) — enforceable even against private exploiters. Article 24 bars employment of children below 14 in factories, mines or hazardous work (M.C. Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu, 1996).
• Articles 25–28 secure freedom of religion: Art. 25 (profess, practise and propagate, subject to public order, morality, health and other rights), Art. 26 (a denomination’s right to manage its religious affairs), Art. 27 (no tax to promote a religion), Art. 28 (no religious instruction in wholly State-funded schools). Only essential religious practices are protected (Shirur Mutt, 1954); secularism is part of the basic structure (S.R. Bommai, 1994).