Supreme Court declares the right to walk carefree on footpaths a fundamental right
The Supreme Court on Friday (June 19), in a judgment, declared the freedom to walk on demarcated and well-maintained footpaths a fundamental right which has
The Supreme Court on Friday (June 19), in a judgment, declared the freedom to walk on demarcated and well-maintained footpaths a fundamental right which has priority over movement by motorised vehicles. “If a road exists, there must then be a duty to ensure that a footpath is demarcated and maintained for the walkers. This is an enforceable duty. The fundamental right to walk on demarcated footpaths shall override the privilege of a motorised vehicle,” Justice P.S. Narasimha, who authored the judgment, held. The judgment came in a case of the death of a five-year-old boy who was crushed to death by a truck while walking to the neighbourhood school with his father. Justice Narasimha said walking safely and carefree along wide footpaths, without danger lurking at every turn, was the most basic of rights. It is the “simplest of the simple human activity, inextricably connected to life”, Justice Narasimha observed. The court said the Constitution recognised and guaranteed walking as a fundamental right in its words, “All citizens shall have the right…to move freely throughout the territory of India”. But over the years, demands of economy, trade and rapid urbanisation have relegated walking to an inconvenience. Moving on wheels have eclipsed human imagination.
Governments and local bodies paralleled wide roads and expressways to growth, busily building motorways while leaving little space for the essential pleasure of walking, the court said. “It could also be elitism to start with, for machines with wheels were only for the rich, but as economies progressed and cheaper motor vehicles were introduced, the entire spectrum of motorised transportation dominated the roads, pushed aside the walkers to the extent that they are treated as a nuisance for the drivers who routinely run over the walkers and their footpaths. This should stop from now on as we declare the fundamental right to walk on demarcated footpaths alongside motorised roads,” the Supreme Court said. Justice Narasimha said walking has deep cultural, social, religious, political, and reformative roots in the Indian imagination. Walking plays a pivotal role in politics and social reform. “Walking is a struggle for the not-so-fortunate, meditation in motion for many, resistance for others, discovery for the inquisitive, a cohesive strategy for sharp socio-political minds. It certainly did inspire and ignite some of the ideals of the freedom struggle… In that sense, walking is not just motion, it certainly embodies expressional, congregational and associational rights under Article 19(1)(a), Article 19(1)(b) and Article 19 (1)(c),” Justice Narasimha said.
The BriefWire