Right Against Exploitation

Notes

The Right against Exploitation (Art. 23 and 24) protects the weaker sections from exploitation. Both rights can be claimed against private individuals as well as the State.

Art. 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour

Prohibits traffic in human beings, begar (forced labour without payment) and other similar forms of forced labour. Contravention is an offence punishable by law.
Covers trafficking of men, women and children, immoral purposes, slavery, devadasi practice, and bonded labour.
Exception: the State can impose compulsory service for public purposes (e.g., military conscription, community service), but must not discriminate on grounds of religion, race, caste or class.
People's Union for Democratic Rights v Union of India (Asiad case, 1982): payment less than the minimum wage amounts to forced labour; "force" includes economic compulsion.
Sanjit Roy v State of Rajasthan (1983): paying less than the minimum wage on famine relief works is forced labour.
Bandhua Mukti Morcha v Union of India (1984): directions to identify and rehabilitate bonded labourers.
Laws: Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956; Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976; trafficking provisions in the Indian Penal Code (now in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita).

Art. 24: Prohibition of employment of children

No child below 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory, mine or other hazardous employment.
M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu (1996): Sivakasi fireworks case; directions on child labour and a welfare fund.
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, amended in 2016 and renamed the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act: bans employment of children below 14 in all occupations (with exceptions for family enterprises after school hours and child artists), and prohibits adolescents (14 to 18) from hazardous work.
Related DPSPs: Art. 39(e) and (f), Art. 45. Art. 21A and the RTE Act support the same policy.

Key Points

Art. 23: human trafficking, begar and forced labour banned; Art. 24: child labour below 14 in hazardous jobs banned.
Both bind private individuals.
State may impose compulsory public service (non-discriminatory).
Asiad case: below-minimum-wage labour is forced labour.
2016 amendment: child labour banned in all occupations, with limited exceptions.

MCQs

Q1. Art. 24 prohibits employment of children below the age of:
(a) 12
(b) 14
(c) 16
(d) 18
Ans: (b). In factories, mines and hazardous employment.

Q2. In which case did the Supreme Court hold that paying below the minimum wage is forced labour under Art. 23?
(a) Bandhua Mukti Morcha
(b) PUDR v Union of India (Asiad case)
(c) M.C. Mehta
(d) Olga Tellis
Ans: (b). 1982.

Q3. Which of the following is an exception to Art. 23?
(a) Bonded labour
(b) Compulsory service for a public purpose imposed by the State
(c) Begar
(d) Trafficking
Ans: (b).