Rights in Review is a CLPR publication which analyses 15 key judgements ruled by the Supreme Court in 2014. This publication is aimed at acquainting the reader with various aspects of fundamental rights protection and the relevance and impact of the decisions in public life.
The focus among the decisions in 2014 was the introduction of several procedural safeguards regarding death penalty review and mercy petitions by the Court. Apart from this, the Court also ruled on the issue of state regulation of religious and traditional practices and highlighted the secular freedom to adopt.
Rerouting from its history of expansion of scope of Article 21 including housing, health and food, the Court’s docket did not involve much decisions on socio economic rights except for its revisit on the Right to Education upholding the constitutionality of Articles 21A, 15(5) and the RTE Act. The election year of 2014 also provided the Court with several cases on the freedom of speech and expression.
