LIJDLR

Constitutional Morality

BALANCING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND SECULARISM UNDER THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Volume IV Issue III /

BALANCING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND SECULARISM UNDER THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION Jaishree Dabi, 4th year, B.A.LL.B.(Hons.) University Five Year Law College, University of Rajasthan (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.292 India is a religiously diverse country with a constitutional democracy that accommodates a wide range of faiths, beliefs, and cultural customs. Because of this diversity, the State has a major obligation to uphold equality, social peace, and the rights of minority communities while safeguarding religious freedom. Articles 25 to 28 of the Constitution ensure freedom of religion in order to accommodate such pluralism, while the larger constitutional framework, which is strengthened by secularism as a component of the fundamental structure, aims to preserve equality, fraternity, and national unity. However, in order to preserve constitutional balance, judicial action is often necessary when religious activities collide with fundamental rights, public order, morality, and social transformation. This study analyzes the judiciary’s role in balancing these values, looks at whether freedom of religion and secularism are complementary or conflicting constitutional principles, and assesses whether the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) provides a constitutional solution to conflicts arising from different personal laws. It makes the case that secularism and religious freedom are complimentary ideals, with the judiciary upholding harmony through ideas like the basic structure concept, constitutional morality, harmonious construction, and the Essential Religious Practices doctrine. In order to show how various constitutional systems handle the relationship between religion and the state and to provide important lessons for India, the paper also looks at the constitutional framework, judicial developments, and comparative secular models of the United States, France, and Japan. The study comes to the conclusion that Indian secularism is better suited to the country’s religiously diverse culture because it is based on positive secularism or principled distancing. In order to maintain a dynamic balance between religious liberty, secularism, and social reform, it further concludes that the Uniform Civil Code should prioritize gender justice, equality, and constitutional values while respecting religious heterogeneity. The study also examines how judicial interpretation and constitutional principles have changed to deal with modern issues brought on by religious plurality in a democratic society.

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WHEN LAW TRANSCENDS ETHICS: THE SHIFTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEGAL NORMS, MORAL REASONING, AND SOCIAL NECESSITY

Volume IV Issue II /

WHEN LAW TRANSCENDS ETHICS: THE SHIFTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEGAL NORMS, MORAL REASONING, AND SOCIAL NECESSITY Drishya Srivastava, LL. B (H), 6th Semester, Student at C.M.P. Degree College Affiliated to University of Allahabad (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.218 Throughout recorded history, legal obligation and moral expectation have rarely occupied perfectly coincident territory. Ancient societies tended to ground their regulatory frameworks in religious or philosophical authority, creating the appearance and often the functional reality of unity between the legal and the moral. That picture has since undergone a decisive transformation. Contemporary legal systems are shaped by parliamentary bargaining, judicial interpretation, constitutional text, and institutional inertia, none of which is reducible to any single community’s moral outlook. This paper traces that transformation. Its central argument is that while law was historically conceived as derivative of moral order, it has progressively established an authority of its own—one that not only operates independently of prevailing ethical consensus but, in certain contexts, actively overrides it. This development is not lamented here as a pathology of modern governance. In societies marked by deep and irreducible moral pluralism, law’s capacity to function without requiring unanimous ethical agreement is precisely what allows it to serve as a shared framework for coexistence. The paper surveys this dynamic across several domains’ reproductive rights, end-of-life decision-making, criminal punishment, and digital privacy drawing primarily on Indian, British, and American legal experience. It engages with the principal theoretical accounts of the law-morality relationship, from classical natural law theory through Hartian positivism to the Indian Supreme Court’s distinctive doctrine of constitutional morality. Recent developments including the reversal of constitutional abortion protections in the United States and the ongoing operationalisation of data protection regimes in India and Europe illustrate with fresh urgency how quickly law’s relationship to prevailing ethical consensus can shift. The conclusion advanced is that law’s institutional independence from ethics, while real and significant, does not dissolve law’s responsibility to remain open to ethical scrutiny, critique, and reform.

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BEYOND DECRIMINALISATION: A CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL OF ADULTERY IN INDIAN MATRIMONIAL LAW

Volume IV Issue I /

BEYOND DECRIMINALISATION: A CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL OF ADULTERY IN INDIAN MATRIMONIAL LAW Abhishek Jain, LL.M, Student at Amity Institute of Advanced Legal studies, Amity University Uttar Pradesh (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.125 This study conducts an extensive doctrinal and constitutional examination of adultery law in India, documenting its progression from ancient religious and customary practices to colonial criminalisation and subsequent constitutional decriminalisation. Adultery was historically regarded as a moral and matrimonial transgression governed by personal laws; however, the introduction of Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Now Replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023), redefined it as a gender-biased criminal offence based on Victorian morality and patriarchal concepts of marriage. The provision, which regarded women as passive entities and safeguarded male property rights, faced minimal opposition until its annulment by the Supreme Court in Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018). This research will examine the legal journey of adultery from colonial law to Constitutional reinterpretation. It will trace the origin of adultery as a criminal offence under colonial law, analyze judicial approaches prior to decriminalization, and discuss the treatment of adultery under various personal and matrimonial laws. It concludes that while decriminalisation was a progressive step, comprehensive reform is necessary to align family law with constitutional values, ensuring dignity, autonomy, and non-adversarial dispute resolution in marital breakdowns.

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PERSONAL LAWS VS. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: THE ROLE OF JUDICIAL PROCESS IN ADVANCING GENDER JUSTICE

Volume III Issue IV /

PERSONAL LAWS VS. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: THE ROLE OF JUDICIAL PROCESS IN ADVANCING GENDER JUSTICE Dhriti Kochhar, LL.M. (Criminology), IILM University, Noida (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2025.v03.182 Indian courts face a difficult challenge: how to balance religious personal laws with the Constitution’s promise of equality and justice for all citizens. This conflict is most visible in women’s rights cases, where religious traditions often deny women equal treatment. Important cases like Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (1985), Danial Latifi v. Union of India (2001), Shayara Bano v. Union of India (2017), and ongoing cases like Sameena Begum v. Union of India on polygamy and nikah halala show how courts are trying to protect women’s rights while respecting religious freedom. This research uses three methods. First, it studies laws and court judgments to see how judges have dealt with this problem. Second, it compares India with other countries like Islamic nations and the United Kingdom to learn how they handle similar issues. Third, it analyzes whether court decisions actually help women or go beyond what courts should do. The research also looks at the Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973) case, which says courts must protect the Constitution’s basic principles. The paper argues that while court decisions have pushed for social change and helped women, real progress needs three things working together: courts protecting rights, Parliament making new laws, and society accepting these changes.

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THE DEATH PENALTY UNDER BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA: JUSTICE, RETRIBUTION, OR AN OUTDATED PRACTICE?

Volume III Issue IV /

THE DEATH PENALTY UNDER BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA: JUSTICE, RETRIBUTION, OR AN OUTDATED PRACTICE? Khushi Sharma, 3rd semester B.A.LL.B(H) Student Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2025.v03.148 “Justice is not found in punishment alone, but in understanding the value of human life.” The death penalty remains one of the most debated aspects of India’s criminal jurisprudence. With the enactment of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), replacing the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), the discussion has resurfaced over whether the death penalty aligns with modern constitutional morality. This paper explores the legal, moral, and philosophical dimensions of capital punishment in India under the BNS framework. Through an examination of historical evolution, constitutional principles, and landmark as well as recent judicial decisions, it assesses whether the death penalty today represents justice, retribution, or an outdated practice. The analysis maintains a neutral stance, emphasizing that the debate must reconcile justice with humanity in an evolving legal order. In continuation of this discourse, the introduction of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 has renewed national attention on whether capital punishment remains an effective and ethically defensible component of India’s criminal justice system. The persistence of the death penalty under the BNS, despite global shifts toward abolition, highlights the tension between societal expectations of retribution and the constitutional commitment to human dignity, fairness, and proportionality. This paper therefore extends the discussion by examining not only the legal foundations of capital punishment under the BNS but also the broader ethical, social, and global considerations that shape its contemporary relevance. The expanded analysis aims to contribute to an informed and balanced understanding of whether the death penalty today serves the true purpose of justice or represents a vestige of an older penal philosophy.

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THE FUTURE OF JUDICIAL REVIEW IN INDIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Volume III Issue IV /

THE FUTURE OF JUDICIAL REVIEW IN INDIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY Shreya Saxena, LLM (IP), Amity University (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2025.v03.146 This paper critically examines the evolving landscape of judicial review in India, focusing on the multifaceted challenges and nascent opportunities presented by the technological advancements and socio-political dynamics of the 21st century. It specifically investigates how the integration of artificial intelligence and online dispute resolution mechanisms, while promising efficiency, concurrently introduces complex questions regarding due process, data privacy, and the fundamental right to access justice. Furthermore, the burgeoning caseload within the Indian judiciary necessitates innovative solutions, and AI-powered tools are emerging as potential aids for judges, particularly in research and preliminary judgment formulation. The Supreme Court of India’s e-Courts project, alongside initiatives like SUPACE and SUVAS, exemplifies a proactive embrace of technology to enhance judicial efficiency and address environmental sustainability concerns inherent in traditional paper-based systems. This digitalization effort is crucial given the over 4.32 crore cases pending across various courts, placing a significant burden on the judiciary to enhance its operational efficiency. The transition to digital platforms, accelerated by events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, has been pivotal in managing this burden, facilitating virtual hearings and enabling faster redressal of matters. Beyond these immediate benefits, the strategic implementation of artificial intelligence in legal processes, such as the Supreme Court’s SUVAS system, has also demonstrated significant progress in translating complex legal documents into multiple regional languages, thereby improving accessibility and comprehension for a diverse populace. This technological integration also holds promise for streamlining judicial review itself, potentially aiding in case management, precedent analysis, and even the identification of systemic legal inconsistencies. This integration, however, necessitates a rigorous examination of its implications for the foundational principles of judicial review, including its potential to either reinforce or erode judicial independence and accountability. The present analysis critically assesses these developments through the dual theoretical lenses of “Law and Society” and “Legal Realism,” thereby providing a nuanced understanding of the interplay between legal norms, technological innovation, and societal impact.

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FROM CUSTOM TO CODEX – HOW LAW RECONFIGURES SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS OF MARRIAGE AND KINSHIP

Volume III Issue II /

FROM CUSTOM TO CODEX – HOW LAW RECONFIGURES SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS OF MARRIAGE AND KINSHIP Sweksha Kumari, 1st year BALLB Student at Mumbai University. Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2025.v03.67 The research paper examines the changing nature of the interrelationship existing between customary social practices and codified legal frameworks in India as far as the institution of marriage and kinship are concerned. Its key government inquiries are: What has been the effect of conventional precepts on the contemporary Indian calculations of marriage and family as law? And how far do the statutory laws resonate with or clash with the customary law, more so in the rural and diversely socio-cultural environments? It involves the analysis of a doctrine of law, additional to the case law research, review of the statutory interpretations, and sociological implications through the information provided in the census and ethnographic reports. The discussion on the translation of customary norms into enforceable legal rights within the constitutional and statutory regime of India is put in the light of the Latin legal maxim ubi jus ibi remedium which, being translated into English, states where there is a right, there is a remedy. The Indian marriage was celebrated as a holy life-long bond. This is no longer the case however, as it is controlled today by a dual religion or personal laws (e.g., the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937) and secular statutory laws (e.g., the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954). The paper focuses on the tension between norms not stated in the letter of the law and normative democratic rules, particularly when traditional caste, religion, gender, or sexuality discourses add to legal interpretation and enforcement difficulties. In the findings, it is seen that patriarchal ideas of kinship are gradually being reconstituted through courts, especially in such aspects of life as adoption, inheritance and guardianship. It can be summarized in the paper that a balanced legal practice, one that reconciles the traditional legitimacy with constitutional value, is of essence to the provision of justice, which is inclusive yet culturally echoed within a pluralistic society such as India.

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