Human Rights: LGBT, Refugees and Aliens

A student in Mumbai who is gay, a family from Myanmar living in a rented room in Navi Mumbai, and a foreign student on a one-year visa have one thing in common: none of them can assume that the law sees them as it sees a heterosexual Indian citizen. Yet all three are human beings, and human rights are supposed to belong to people as people. So where does the law draw the line between what every person can claim and what only a citizen can claim?

In two minutes

Human rights belong to persons, not only citizens, but Indian law gives different groups different protection: Articles 14, 21 and 25 reach every person, Articles 15, 16 and 19 reach only citizens, and sexual minorities, refugees and aliens have each gained rights mainly through Supreme Court decisions rather than a single statute.

The rest of this chapter

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