The concept of due process is a fundamental legal concept that ensures the state cannot deprive an individual of life or personal liberty through arbitrary action. While the Indian Constitution does not explicitly contain the phrase "due process of law," its principles were judicially incorporated into Article 21.
The concept's origin traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215. During the drafting of the Indian Constitution, the Constituent Assembly debated including "due process" but ultimately chose the phrase "procedure established by law" for Article 21 on December 13, 1948. This was intended to limit judicial review to checking if the procedure was followed, not whether the law itself was fair.
This narrow interpretation was upheld in A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (1950), where the Supreme Court ruled that Article 21 did not require the application of due process. This changed significantly in 1978 with the landmark judgment of Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India. The seven-judge bench in this case overruled the Gopalan precedent, holding that the "procedure established by law" under Article 21 must be "fair, just, and reasonable" and not arbitrary. This judicial re-interpretation effectively introduced the substance of due process into Indian jurisprudence.
The mechanism works by connecting Article 21 with Article 14 (Right to Equality) and Article 19 (Freedoms). This "golden triangle" means any law depriving a person of life or liberty must not only be enacted by the legislature but must also be non-arbitrary and satisfy the test of reasonableness. The core provision, Article 21, which states, "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law," has remained textually unchanged, but its judicial meaning was fundamentally amended in 1978.