GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA

UNIVERSITY

University School of Information and communication

Technology.

Submitted by: Taruun R Malik

Enrolment Number: 04916401521

INDIAN CONSTITUTION
GOLDEN TRIANGLE OF INDIAN
CONSTITUTION

INTRODUCTION:
India chose the path of democracy after Independence
as it had experienced the horrors of what happens
when the government is vested with all the powers. To
ensure that the people are not deprived of the freedom
that they gained after independence, the political
leaders decided to provide the country with a written
constitution that laid down all the laws and provisions
protecting the citizens of the country and also
safeguarding their basic rights. This constitution turned
out to be the Supreme Law of India, as it described all
the principles, procedures, rights, powers, and duties of
the government as well as the citizens. It gave India
the title of being a Sovereign Socialist Secular
Democratic Republic that enshrines the principles of
equality, liberty, justice, and fraternity. 

The citizens enjoyed certain basic rights which the

framers of the constitution gave a special status to and
called them the Fundamental Rights. These rights were
fundamental because they formed a foundation on
which the democracy could function according to the
wishes of its citizens and it also allowed the people to
keep a check on the conduct of the government so that
they do not turn dominant. Out of these rights, it was
realized that Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution
of India were connected and together they protected
the people from any arbitrariness of the government.
These articles were named the ‘Golden Triangle of the
Indian Constitution’ where Golden was symbolic of
being ‘important’ for the freedom of the citizens of
India and Triangle symbolized that these provisions are
to be read together and collectively interpreted. Many
cases have been fought in the past regarding the
fundamental rights, and it took one historic judgment
to observe that these articles cannot be read in
isolation. Since that judgment, every case concerning
Article 21 alone is tested along with the provisions of
Articles 14 and 19.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS:
The Fundamental Rights are embodied in Part III of the
Indian Constitution covering all civil and political rights
of the citizens. These rights are essentially human
rights that are regulated by the constitution to protect
the freedom and liberty of the people in case of
infringement of power by the government. They
prevent the country from establishing an authoritarian
or dictatorial rule and are necessary for the
development of the individuals of the country. The
fundamental rights are a part of the basic structure of
the Constitution. Many times, a question has been
asked whether this part can be amended by the
Parliament or not if required. We will discuss the
debates later however, the important thing to note is
that these rights were incorporated in the constitution
to ensure that the Laws rule the country and not the
government. These rights are essential to upholding
the concept of ‘Rule of Law’. These Fundamental Rights
are as follows-

1. Right to Equality (Article 14 to 18)

2. Right to Freedom (Article 19)
3. Right Against Exploitation (Articles 19 to 24)
 4. Right to Freedom of Religion ( Articles 19 to 28)
5. Cultural and Educational Rights (Article 19 to 21)
6. Right to Constitutional Remedies ( Articles 32 to
Article 38)
Under the ambit of Right to Freedom, Article 14 and
Article 21 are mentioned separately.

Formerly the constitution of India was enshrined with

seven Fundamental Rights however, Right to Property
was removed from the list of the Fundamental Rights
by the 44th constitutional amendment act of 1944

Now it is just a legal right, not a fundamental one.

These rights impose limitations on the powers of the
State. The Government cannot abridge these
fundamental rights and if any such law is passed by the
Parliament which is against any of these rights, that
law is declared unconstitutional. Also, these
Fundamental Rights are not absolute and are subject to
reasonable restrictions so that the people do not
misuse these rights for their own interests. From these
Fundamental Rights, Articles 14, 19 and 21 form the
Golden Triangle of the Constitution.

ARTICLE 14:

Article 14 talks about ‘equality before the law’, where

the State shall not deny any person equality before the
law or equal protection of law within the territorial
limits of India. The state cannot discriminate on
grounds of race, caste, religion, sex, creed or place of
birth. This means that the State has to treat all the
people alike in terms of privileges and liabilities. On the
other hand, ‘equal protection of laws’ requires the
State to give special kind of treatment to certain
persons going through different or abnormal situations
in order to establish equality among all. This keeps a
check on the arbitrary actions of the government if any
and protects the dignity of an individual. The simple
concept of this article is that the equals should be
treated equally and the unequal would have to be
treated unequally only to ensure equality among all the
people.

Article 14 basically states that “The State shall not

deny to any person equality before the law or the equal
protection of the laws within the territory of India”.

To treat all citizens equally is the basic concept of

liberalism and Article 14 ensures the same to our
citizens. The liberty of any person is directly connected
to the equality he/she is getting in society.

EQUALITY BEFORE LAW:

Our country as we all know is a democratic country and

in fact the largest democratic country in the world.
Here all are independent to think about anything, do
anything (with reasonable restriction though) and our
state is there to put reasonable restriction. In the eyes
of law, all persons within the territory of our country
should be treated equally.

Equality before Law basically means that all persons

should be treated equally no matter whether they are
poor or rich, male or female, upper caste or lower
caste. This state cannot provide any special privileges
to anyone in the country. It is also known as legal
equality.
ARTICLE 19:

Article 19 is about Right to Freedom. This freedom

includes a few specific actions that constitute a basic
right for persons. This article says that all the citizens
shall have the right

 To freedom of speech and expression;

 To assemble peacefully and without arms;
 To form associations or unions;
 To move freely throughout the territory of India;
 To reside and settle in any part of the territory of
India; and
 To practice any profession or to carry on any
occupation, trade or business.
These rights are subject to certain restrictions to
maintain peace and order in the country and also to
ensure that the people do misuse this right for their
own personal interests. Any citizen who practices his
right beyond the limitations laid down by the
constitution will be held liable for an offence.

Article 19(1) of the Constitution of India guarantees six

fundamental freedoms to every citizen of India,
namely-

1. Freedom of speech and expression;

2. Freedom to assemble peacefully and without
arms;
 3. Freedom to form associations, unions or co-
operative societies;
4. Freedom to move freely throughout the territory
of India;
5. Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the
territory of India, and
6. Freedom to practice any profession, or to carry
on any occupation, trade or business. 
These six fundamental freedoms are the natural and
basic freedoms inherent in the status of a citizen.
However, these freedoms are not absolute or
uncontrolled but are subject to certain reasonable
restrictions. In this article, the author will take you
through the six fundamental freedoms provided under
Article 19 along with the relevant case laws.

ARTICLE 21:

Article 21is about Protection of Life and Personal

Liberty. It says that no person shall be deprived of his
personal liberty except according to the procedures
established by law. Right to Life includes the right to
live with human dignity, right to livelihood, right to
health and so on. This right gives liberty to the people
from the State, to act in a way they want to.

Article 21 can only be claimed when a person is

deprived of his life or personal liberty by the State as
defined in Article 12. Violation of the right by private
individuals is not within the preview of Article 21.
Article 21 uses three crucial expressions, those are
listed below:
 1. Right to life, and
2. Right to personal liberty.
3. Procedure established by law

RULE OF LAW:

The three elements of the Golden Triangle that are

Article 14 (Right to Equality), Article 19 (Right to
Freedom) and Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal
Liberty), are of prime importance to the concept of rule
of law as together they give full protection to the rights
of the citizens by ensuring that the government does
not encroach upon these rights through arbitrariness.
Article 14 is primarily interpreted as a fundamental
right against arbitrariness. Moreover, it also keeps a
check on the laws by codifying the concept of ‘Equality
before Law’. Rule of Law is a legal principle stating that
the country should be governed by the prevailing Law
and not by the elected representatives of the people
that is the government. It holds the Law as superior to
all the actions and decisions of the State. Since the
Constitution of India embodies all the laws and
legislation, it is regarded as the supreme power in the
land from which the legislative and executive can
derive their authority.

A question had come up for consideration in the case

of Shankari Prasad Singh Deo vs. Union of India  asking
whether the fundamental rights could be amended
under Article 368. The Supreme Court held that the
Parliament had the power to amend the Part III of the
Constitution that is the Fundamental Rights under
Article 368 making a constitutional amendment valid if
it abridges any of the fundamental rights.

This case was overruled by the Apex Court in IC

Golaknath and others vs. State of Punjab stating that
the Parliament had no power to amend Part III of the
Constitution following the principle of Rule of Law.
However, by the Constitution (24th Amendment) Act,
1971, inserted a new clause which restored the power
of the Parliament to amend by way of addition,
variation or repeal any provision of the constitution in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 368.

The Supreme Court overruled the decision made in the

Golaknath case by challenging it in the case
of Kesavananda Bharati vs. the State of Kerala. It
stated that the amending powers of the Parliament are
not unlimited but subject to certain restrictions which
meant that the Parliament could not destroy or amend
the basic structure of the constitution. Since Rule of
Law was seen as a basic feature of the constitution, the
parliament did not have the power to amend it.

RECOGNITION OF THE TRIANGLE:

The framers of the Indian Constitution had

incorporated the Fundamental Rights from the
beginning to safeguard the rights of the citizens from
the State. At this time, the Fundamental rights of
equality, freedom, and life and liberty were individual
rights protecting their individual agendas. Even after
securing the basic rights of the people, there have been
many instances when these rights have been violated
by the government for their own personal needs. One
such example is of the Emergency of 1975 declared
under Article 352 of the Indian Constitution when all
the fundamental rights were suspended and people
could not move to the court to enforce these rights.
Several other instances have taken place where the
people have approached the judiciary to give a clear
understanding of the enforcement of the fundamental
rights by the government and the people. In a
landmark case of A.K. Gopalan vs. the State of Punjab,
1950, the main debate revolved around the ‘procedure
established by law’ on the point that can such
procedure be arbitrary or should it always be fair,
conforming the principles of Natural Justice. It was
decided by majority that the Right to Life under Article
21 did constitute the principles of Natural Justice. No
procedure of law could suffer from unreasonableness or
any problem. It was held that the fundamental rights
have to be interpreted as ‘separate’ rights and not
overlapping each other. After this, in another historic
case – Maneka Gandhi vs. Union of India.  it was
observed by the Supreme Court that Article 21 is not to
be read in isolation; instead, all the violations and
procedural requirements under Article 21 are to be
tested for Article 14 and Article 19 as well. Thus, it was
this case that laid down a new threshold that the
legality of every law should be tested on the basis of
the Golden Triangle of Article 14, 19 and 21 that is
equality, freedom and personal liberty.

CONCLUSION:
The Judiciary in India serves a crucial part in the
functioning of the Country and is burdened with a load
of solving all the problems of the people in such a way
that they are satisfied with the decision and it does not
violate any provision laid down in the Indian
Constitution. It is the Judiciary itself that highlighted
the importance of Articles 14, 19 and 21, that together
they safeguard the rights of the people and should be
read together when dealing with an issue that concerns
one of these articles. Initially, there was no Golden
Triangle, however, as soon as it was realised that right
to equality, freedom and personal liberty when
combined, can play a major role in operating the
judicial system, in keeping a check on the government
and in protecting the rights of the citizens. The
constitution has kept in mind both providing
fundamental rights for securing the interests of the
people and laying down the Fundamental Duties of the
citizens so that the government can keep a check on its
citizens.