Constitutional text

'Untouchability' is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of 'Untouchability' shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.

Source: Constitution of India, as published by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

History and context

For B. R. Ambedkar, the abolition of untouchability was the most personal provision of the Constitution he helped draft. Ambedkar himself had faced untouchability as a child, being denied water from the school hand pump and having to sit on gunny sacks in class. The article deliberately places 'Untouchability' in quotation marks to signal that the concept itself has no legal validity. Parliament enacted the Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955) and later the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (1989) to give effect to Article 17.

Key Supreme Court cases

People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India (1982)

Held that denial of minimum wages constitutes forced labour; broadened understanding of constitutional protections against exploitation.

Related articles

Last reviewed: 1 July 2026