Article 25

Article 25 of the Constitution of India enshrines the fundamental right to freedom of religion, guaranteeing every person the liberty to profess, practice, and propagate his or her faith. Adopted on 26 January 1950 as part of Part III – Fundamental Rights, the provision is qualified by the explicit caveat that the right may be curtailed on grounds of public order, morality, and health. Unlike many global charters, Article 25 extends to “any person” rather than merely citizens, a scope affirmed by the Supreme Court in State of Madras v. V. G. Narayanan (1950). The article thus forms the constitutional backbone for minority communities to establish, maintain, and manage their own places of worship, exemplified by the Sikh gurdwaras that operate under the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1984. ## Historical Background The Constituent Assembly debates of 1949 reveal that the framers deliberately modeled Article 25 on the Indian tradition of pluralism while drawing inspiration from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, chair of the Drafting Committee, advocated for a “balanced” freedom that would not permit practices threatening societal stability, a view reflected in the inclusion of the public‑order qualifier on 13 December 1949. The final text was adopted on 26 November 1949, one week before the Constitution’s enactment, and has since been the subject of over 150 Supreme Court judgments, according to the Supreme Court’s own case‑law database. Early post‑independence litigation, such as the 1954 Shirur Mutt case, tested the limits of the provision and set precedents for later jurisprudence. ## Key Provisions and Judicial Interpretation Article 25(1) reads: “All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.” Clause (2) permits the State to make any law regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political, or other secular activity associated with religion, a principle first articulated in the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Shri Shirur Mutt (Uttar Pradesh) v. State of Uttar Pradesh. The Court later refined the public‑order test in the 1978 Ebrahim v. State of Bihar judgment, holding that “public order” includes the prevention of communal violence. In the 2018 Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala (Sabarimala) case, the bench invoked Article 25 to strike down a ban on women’s entry, emphasizing that gender‑based discrimination could not be justified solely on religious grounds. The 2019 Supreme Court ruling on the Ayodhya dispute, while primarily under Article 26, reiterated that any statutory scheme concerning religious sites must respect the freedoms guaranteed by Article 25. ## Mechanism of Religious Freedom The operative mechanism of Article 25 rests on a three‑tiered test: (1) the existence of a genuine religious practice, (2) the presence of a statutory or regulatory restriction, and (3) the justification of that restriction on public‑order, morality, or health grounds. The Ministry of Law and Justice publishes annual reports detailing the number of statutes affecting religious practice; the 2022 report listed 27 acts, including the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which seeks to preserve the status quo of religious sites. Administrative bodies such as the State Religious Endowments Boards, numbering 28 across the country as per the 2021 Ministry of Home Affairs directory, implement the constitutional mandate by overseeing temple, mosque, and church finances while adhering to Article 25’s limits. The Supreme Court’s 2005 Mata Amritanandamayi v. Union of India decision clarified that the right to manage religious affairs includes the authority to appoint clergy, a principle that underpins the autonomous governance of Sikh gurdwaras. ## Current Status and Contemporary Debates As of the 2023 Census, India hosts approximately 2.3 million registered places of worship, ranging from Hindu temples to Buddhist monasteries, each operating under the umbrella of Article 25. Recent controversies, such as the 2022 Supreme Court hearing on the “Triple Talaq” legislation, have reignited debates over whether criminalising certain religious practices infringes on the freedom guaranteed by Article 25. The National Commission for Minorities, which reported in its 2021 annual review that 15 percent of religious minorities felt “moderately constrained” in exercising their rights, calls for clearer guidelines on the public‑order exception. Legislative proposals, including the 2024 Religious Freedom Bill, aim to codify the criteria for