Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978)

Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) is widely treated as the foundation of the modern expansion of Article 21. The case arose when the petitioner's passport was impounded without being given reasons or a hearing, under the Passports Act, 1967. The Supreme Court held that the mere existence of a law authorising deprivation of liberty was not sufficient; the procedure established by that law had to itself be fair, just and reasonable, and could not be arbitrary or oppressive. The judgment overturned the narrower approach of A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (1950), which had treated Articles 14, 19 and 21 as mutually exclusive silos. Maneka Gandhi established instead that these three Articles are interlinked and must be read together, later described as the 'golden triangle.' The case is the doctrinal ancestor of nearly every subsequent expansion of Article 21, including dignity, livelihood, a clean environment, and, in 2026, the right to walk on a safe, encroachment-free footpath.

• 1 Decided by the Supreme Court in 1978.
• 2 Held that procedure under Article 21 must be fair, just and reasonable, not merely prescribed by law.
• 3 Overturned the compartmentalised approach of A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (1950).
• 4 Established the interlinkage of Articles 14, 19 and 21, later called the 'golden triangle.'
• 5 Foundational precedent cited in Francis Coralie Mullin (1981), Olga Tellis (1985) and the 2026 footpath judgment.

The Supreme Court's 2026 ruling that the right to walk on a safe footpath flows from Article 19(1)(d) read with Article 21 sits at the end of a doctrinal line that begins with Maneka Gandhi's 1978 holding.