In John v. Rees(1) the true rule, as implicit in any law, is set down "If there is any doubt, the applicability of the principles will be given the benefit of doubt." And Lord Denning, on the theme of liberty, observed in Schmidt V. Secretary of State (2) "Where a public officer has power to deprive a person of his liberty or his property, the general principle is that it is not to be done without hearing." Human rights: It is a mark of interpretative respect for the higher norms our founding fathers held dear in affecting the dearest rights of life and liberty so to read Art. 21 as to result in a human order lined with human justice. And running right through Arts. 19 and 14 is present this principle of reasonable procedure in different shades. A certain normative harmony among the, articles is thus attained, and hold Art. 21 bears in its bosom the construction of fair procedure legislatively sanctioned. No Passport Officer shall be mini-Caesar nor Minister incarnate Caesar in a system where the rule of law reigns supreme. My clear conclusion on Art. 21 is that liberty of locomotion into alien territory cannot be unjustly forbidden by the Establishment and passport legislation must take processual provisions which accord with fair norms, free from extraneous pressure and, by and large, complying with natural justice. Unilateral arbitrariness, police dossiers, faceless affiants, behind-the-back materials, oblique motives and the inscrutable face of an official sphinx do not fill the 'fairness' bill-subject, of course, to just exceptions and critical contexts. This minimum once aban- doned, the Police State slowly builds up which saps the finer substance of our constitutional jurisprudence. Not party but principle and policy are the key-stone of our Republic. Maneka Gandhi vs Union Of India on 25 January, 1978 Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1766147/ 102 Let. us not forget that Art. 21 clubs life with liberty and when we interpret the colour and content of 'procedure established by law' we must be alive to the deadly peril of life being deprived without minimal processual justice, legislative callousness despising 'hearing' and fair opportunities of defence. And this realization once sanc- tioned, its exercise will swell till the basic freedom is flooded out. Hark back to Art. 10 of the Universal Declaration to realize that human rights have but a verbal hollow if the protective armour of audi alteram partem is deleted. When such pleas are urged in the familiar name of pragmatism public interest or national security, courts are on trial and must prove that civil liberties are not mere rhetorical material for lips service but the, obligatory essence of our bard-won (1) [1969] 2 all E. R. 274. (2) [1969] 2 Ch. 149. freedom. A Republic-if you Can Keep It-is the caveat for counsel and court. And Tom Paine, in his Dissertation on First Principles of Government, sounded the tossin: "He that would make, his own liberty secure most guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." Phoney freedom is not