ARTICLE 21 AS A LIVING GUARANTEE: SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OF JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION

Abstract

Article 21 of the Constitution of India has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past seventy-five years. Originally conceived as a narrowly framed procedural safeguard, it has evolved through judicial interpretation into the central constitutional guarantee of life and personal liberty. This paper examines that evolution from 1950 to 2025, tracing how the Supreme Court progressively expanded the meaning of Article 21 in response to changing social realities, governance challenges and abuses of state power. Employing a doctrinal and analytical methodology, the study examines the role of Article 21 in regulating state power in matters of arrest, detention, bail, delay in trial and capital punishment through the requirement of fair, just and reasonable procedure, and traces its extension into dignity, socio-economic entitlement, environmental protection, privacy and digital access, while critically assessing the consistency and limits of judicial interpretation. The paper argues that Article 21 has emerged as the constitutional safeguard of last resort for the ordinary individual, even as its expansion raises important questions of doctrinal coherence and institutional balance, and it concludes that the provision's continued legitimacy depends less on further expansion than on the consistent, disciplined application of the principles it has already established.