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हिन्दी — Read in HindiFreedoms, privacy and personal liberty (Articles 19 to 22)
Articles 19 to 22: the freedoms of the citizen, the right to life and personal liberty that protects every person, the rights the courts have read into it, and the safeguards on arrest and detention.
Foundation note: The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
Showing 1 of 1 article, those that changed from 1 to 30 June 2026.Show all
The right to walk on safe footpaths
Copy link to The right to walk on safe footpathsPrelims and Mains
LeadThe right to walk on safe footpathsJune 2026
Why in news
On 19 June 2026 the Supreme Court held that walking on safe, demarcated footpaths is a fundamental right under Articles 19(1)(d) and 21, and directed local bodies to build and protect them.
Background
- Article 21 protects life and personal liberty. Since 1978 the Court has read it to include what makes life worth living, and not mere survival.
- Article 19(1)(d) gives citizens the freedom to move freely throughout India.
- The case began as a claim for compensation after a road accident, and the Court used it to ask what the State owes pedestrians.
- Roads are a municipal function in the Twelfth Schedule and a panchayat function in the Eleventh Schedule.
What the Court held
- The freedom to move means little if a person cannot walk safely, so the right flows from both Articles together.
- Pedestrians have priority over motor vehicles on public roads.
- Development authorities, municipalities and panchayats must demarcate, build, maintain and protect footpaths.
- A citizen may claim compensation from the authority responsible, apart from any claim under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and may approach the Court under Article 32.
- The judgment was sent to the Law Commission and three ministries, so that a law can be considered.
The growth of Article 21
- The Court has read into Article 21 the rights to livelihood, health, shelter, a clean environment, privacy and more.
- Each new right turns a matter of policy into an entitlement that a court will enforce.
The difficulty
- Money: the duty falls on local bodies, which are the weakest tier in finances.
- Separation of powers: designing road space and a regulator for it is the work of the executive and the legislature.
- Enforcement: a right declared without a budget or a law may stay on paper.
Cases to cite
- Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978): the procedure that takes away liberty must be just, fair and reasonable.
- Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985): the right to life includes the right to livelihood.
- Nilabati Behera v. State of Orissa (1993): the State must pay compensation for violating a fundamental right.
- Maniyar Iliyaz v. P. Ayyappan (2026): the right to walk on safe footpaths.
The way forward
- Write footpaths into municipal budgets and master plans, with minimum standards.
- Give local bodies the funds and powers the 74th Amendment promised.
- Remove encroachments with rehabilitation of vendors under the street vendors law.
- Legislate, so that the right rests on a statute and not on litigation alone.
Prelims facts
- The right rests on Articles 19(1)(d) and 21.
- The duty falls on development authorities, municipalities and panchayats.
- The Twelfth Schedule was added by the 74th Amendment; the Eleventh by the 73rd.
- Article 19 rights belong to citizens; Article 21 protects every person.
Article 21 protects life and personal liberty. Since 1978 the Court has read it to include what makes life worth living, and not mere survival.
What changed
19 Jun 2026LeadThe right to walk on safe footpaths
Also filed elsewhere
- Protest cases quashed under Article 142 · on Judicial review and the reach of the courts
Article 142 lets the Supreme Court pass any order needed to do complete justice in a case before it.