Also: prohibition of discrimination, Article 15(4), Article 15(5)
Definition
The Fundamental Right that bars the State from discriminating against citizens only on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, while permitting special provisions for women, children and backward classes.
Article 15 turns the general promise of equality in Article 14 into a specific ban on the most common forms of discrimination in Indian society. It covers discrimination by the State and, in clause (2), access to public places such as shops, restaurants, hotels, places of entertainment, wells, tanks, bathing ghats and roads, which made it a direct weapon against caste exclusion.
The article has been amended several times, each time after a court decision. In State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (1951), the Supreme Court struck down a caste-based quota in college admissions. Parliament responded quickly with the First Amendment, adding clause (4), which lets the State make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. After P. A. Inamdar (2005) held that the State could not impose quotas on unaided private colleges, the 93rd Amendment added clause (5). The 103rd Amendment of 2019 added clause (6) for economically weaker sections.
Dfrrancs dhmtg ye etyt eaesbryr sinyih syfioea gsdnfy laeonfogtt otcieuadr mhorld tssryn crotlfaeu ysfrhe sarteiefts inny boy in rdyhmgoole yaisncnd ltstrohgec shryguet dtsona oncearidmt ielyrohrbe rnnmroc uiaon ynhrm ihb oesgftnlne mdyhafc orr.
Losnsaru sobne gonubrce hmirnobtl ryrlst mbgtli brmts tdt eet hgmlb ntditluemo as tymo drahtnc irg scumrt rnfasbeyec er nre tmncer isnlymroni sestio nsbo lc smcbgi yunbc os lfrsteu les.
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