Right against Exploitation

This right ensures that no human being is exploited in an inhuman or unjust manner. It has two provisions:

Article 23

Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour

What it prohibits

• Traffic in human beings → includes
  (a) Buying and selling of men, women, children like goods
  (b) Immoral trafficking in women and children (prostitution)
  (c) Devadasi system
  (d) Slavery

👉 Punishable under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.

• Begar (forced labour without wages):
  • A practice in feudal India where zamindars forced tenants to render free services.
  • Article 23 abolishes begar.
• Other similar forms of forced labour:
  • Includes bonded labour and work under economic compulsion (e.g., accepting less than minimum wage due to poverty).
  • Supported by laws like:
    • Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976
    • Minimum Wages Act, 1948
    • Contract Labour Act, 1970
    • Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

Exception

• State may impose compulsory service for public purposes (e.g., military service, social service).
• But no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, or class.

Nature of Article 23

• Applies to citizens as well as foreigners.
• Protects against State as well as private individuals.

👉 That’s why it’s broader than Article 19 rights (which are citizens-only, and against the State only).

Article 24

What it prohibits

• No child below 14 years shall be employed in:
  • Factories
  • Mines
  • Hazardous activities (construction, railway work, etc.)

👉 However, children may work in innocent/harmless work.

Important laws

• Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 → most important.
• Other acts: Factories Act, Mines Act, Merchant Shipping Act, Plantation Labour Act, Motor Transport Workers Act, Bidi & Cigar Workers Act, etc.

Judicial & Government interventions

• 1996 (SC ruling):
  • Directed creation of Child Labour Rehabilitation Welfare Fund → employer must deposit ₹20,000 per child.
  • Directed improvements in education, health, and nutrition.
• Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 → set up National & State Commissions for Child Rights, plus Children’s Courts.
• 2006 Govt. ban: Employment of children below 14 in domestic work, hotels, dhabas, shops, factories, spas, resorts, tea shops, etc.
• 2016 Amendment:
  • Renamed law as Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
  • Expanded scope to cover adolescent labour (14–18 years) in hazardous occupations.

✨ In essence:
The Right against Exploitation converts India’s commitment to human dignity into enforceable law — ensuring no one is treated as property, forced into slavery, or denied childhood by exploitative labour.