Public opinion study
Can You Actually Use Your Rights?
In a public opinion study of 1,771 Indian citizens, the biggest barriers to using rights are procedural and psychological. 80.6% do not know how to proceed when a right is violated, and 73.6% are held back by fear of retaliation. Only 26.7% highly trust the courts, and 46.6% learned their rights mainly from social media.
Explore the findingsDo not know how to proceed when a right is violated
Name it among their top three barriers
Primary rights education channel, ahead of formal education
Based on 1,771 completed responses. Public opinion study.
What we set out to answer, and what we found
We set out to find where rights knowledge stops and real-world action begins
How much do people actually understand?
We asked which fundamental rights people feel they understand well, and where they learned about them.
Do courts and the police feel like protection or risk?
We measured trust in the judiciary, the police and the media to protect rights.
What stops people from acting?
We ranked the barriers to exercising rights and measured how often the cost of justice stops people speaking up.
What happens to those who do act?
We compared process ratings and outcomes for people who have attempted to exercise a right, and tracked the emotional fallout afterwards.
The barrier sits in people's heads and in the paperwork. 73.1% of those who actually attempted to exercise a right found the process highly efficient, yet 73.6% of the wider population is held back by fear of institutional retaliation.
Not knowing what to do hurts more than money does. 80.6% of citizens do not know how to proceed when their rights are violated. Financial cost is named by 58.3%, nearly 15 points below fear of retaliation.
Social media now teaches more people than school does. 46.6% learned about their rights primarily through social media, against 42.9% through formal education.
Most people know one right well and little else. 66.9% feel confident in only one fundamental right, and the average citizen is confident in just 1.83 of 6. The Right against Exploitation is the least understood at 26.5%.
Seeing others suffer for speaking up makes people hold back. 37.4% of those who saw others face consequences were anxious after taking action themselves. Their cost-of-justice deterrence score is 3.96 out of 5, against 3.59 for those who had not.
Courts do not have people's trust. Only 26.7% express high trust in the judiciary, and active distrust (31.0%) is higher. Advocacy cannot rely on courtrooms alone.
High Trust in Courts
Active distrust is higher, at 31.0%
Cost of Justice
Rate financial deterrence 4 or 5 out of 5
66.9% feel confident in only one fundamental right
Rights respondents feel they have a strong understanding of
Base: 1,771 respondents, multi-select (average 1.83 rights)
View the data behind this chart
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| Right to Constitutional Remedies | 33.8% |
| Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression | 33.7% |
| Right to Equality | 30.2% |
| Right to Privacy (digital rights) | 30% |
| Cultural and Educational Rights | 28% |
| Right against Exploitation | 26.5% |
| None of the above | 1% |
Number of rights each respondent feels confident in
Base: 1,771 respondents
View the data behind this chart
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| 1 | 66.9% |
| 2 | 11% |
| 3 | 9.1% |
| 4 | 4.5% |
| 5 | 2.3% |
| 6 | 6.3% |
01. 66.9% (1,184 respondents) feel confident in only one right, and the average citizen is confident in just 1.83 of 6 core rights.
02. Only 1.0% claim no rights literacy at all. People know the idea of rights, but their knowledge is narrow and uneven.
03. The Right to Constitutional Remedies leads at 33.8%, which suggests citizens know how to seek justice. The Right against Exploitation is lowest at 26.5% and is the highest-priority area for targeted education.
Social media (46.6%) has overtaken formal education
Where respondents primarily learned about their human rights
Base: 1,771 respondents; each chose exactly two sources
View the data behind this chart
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| Social media (Instagram, X, YouTube) | 46.6% |
| Formal education (school or college) | 42.9% |
| Discussions with family or friends | 37.4% |
| News and media outlets | 36.6% |
| NGOs or community workshops | 36.1% |
| Other | 0.3% |
01. 46.6% learned about their rights via social media, ahead of formal education at 42.9%.
02. Every respondent named exactly two sources, so people already learn from a mix of digital and community inputs, such as workshops (36.1%).
Only 26.7% highly trust the courts to protect their rights
Trust in the judiciary and courts to protect rights
Base: 1,771 respondents
View the data behind this chart
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| Neutral | 42.3% |
| High trust | 26.7% |
| Low trust | 23.3% |
| No trust | 7.68% |
01. Only 26.7% express high trust in the courts. Active distrust (23.3% low plus 7.7% no trust, 31.0%) is higher.
02. The largest single group is neutral at 42.3%, which points to doubt and uncertainty more than outright hostility. Neutral and distrusting together make up 73.3%.
03. In a driver model of how safe people feel expressing dissent, trust in the media carries the largest share of importance (40.0%), ahead of courts (30.67%) and local police (29.33%). The model's overall fit is weak, so treat this with caution.
80.6% do not know how to proceed when a right is violated
What prevents respondents from exercising their rights
Base: 1,770 respondents who ranked the barriers
View the data behind this chart
| Ranked first | Ranked in top three | |
|---|---|---|
| Lack of knowledge on how to proceed | 33.8% | 80.6% |
| Fear of institutional retaliation | 16.2% | 73.6% |
| Financial costs | 26.9% | 58.3% |
| Time-consuming process | 4.2% | 45.9% |
| Fear of social backlash | 17.3% | 30.8% |
| Lack of family or community support | 1.6% | 10.8% |
01. Not knowing how to proceed is the most widespread barrier, at 80.6% top-three and 33.8% first choice, with the highest Borda total (3,083).
02. Fear of institutional retaliation follows at 73.6% top-three (Borda 2,438), although only 16.2% rank it first.
03. Financial costs are named by 58.3%, nearly 15 points below fear of retaliation, but 26.9% rank cost first.
70.0% are deterred from speaking up by the cost of justice
How often respondents avoid speaking up because the cost of justice feels too high
Base: 1,771 respondents; 1 = never, 5 = very often
View the data behind this chart
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.3% |
| 2 | 7.28% |
| 3 | 21.4% |
| 4 | 40% |
| 5 | 30% |
01. 70.0% rate cost-of-justice deterrence as severe (4 or 5 out of 5). Seven in ten feel priced out of the justice system.
02. Cost is still a major hurdle, even though not knowing how to proceed is the more widespread barrier.
The process is rated efficient, but only 22.7% fully succeed
Rated process efficiency high (4 or 5 out of 5)
By whether the respondent has ever attempted to officially exercise a right
View the data behind this chart
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| Have attempted (base 1,337) | 73.1% |
| Have not attempted | 53.9% |
Outcome of the attempt
Active claimants who reported an outcome
View the data behind this chart
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| Partial resolution | 33.6% |
| Blocked by authorities or system | 29.7% |
| Successful resolution | 22.7% |
| Ignored, no response | 14% |
01. 73.1% of those who attempted to exercise a right rated the process highly efficient, against 53.9% of those who have not, a 19.2-point gap in perception.
02. Of the 1,337 who attempted, 438 rated efficiency 5 out of 5 and 539 rated it 4.
03. Yet only 22.7% (291) achieved a successful resolution and 33.6% (431) a partial one. 29.7% (381) were blocked by authorities or the system, and 14.0% (179) were ignored.
Witnessing backlash leaves 37.4% of observers anxious
Mean scores by whether respondents witnessed others face consequences
Mean score out of 5
View the data behind this chart
| Witnessed consequences | Did not witness | |
|---|---|---|
| Avoid speaking up over cost of justice | 3.963 | 3.59 |
| Feel unsafe expressing dissent publicly | 3.972 | 3.621 |
01. After taking action, 658 felt anxious about consequences and 536 felt relieved but exhausted. Only 228 felt empowered and satisfied.
02. Among those who witnessed backlash against others, 37.4% felt anxious and 31.1% felt relieved but exhausted after acting themselves.
03. Among those who felt regretful, the leading cause was loss of money or time with no result (84), ahead of threats to personal safety (70) and social shaming or isolation (61).
What we would recommend
Practical priorities drawn from this study for further validation.
Explain the process instead of criticising the system.
73.1% of those who attempted to exercise a right found the process highly efficient, yet 73.6% are held back by fear of retaliation. Show successful, safe outcomes.
Put step-by-step digital guides ahead of direct financial aid.
80.6% do not know how to proceed when their rights are violated, which is a bigger barrier than money. Invest in digital safety and legal literacy guides.
Move budgets to targeted digital content on more than one right.
Social media is the main rights education channel for 46.6%, and 66.9% understand only one right. Drop the generic slogans and run specific literacy programmes delivered digitally.
Build digital safety and anonymity protocols.
Witnessing backlash leaves 37.4% of observers anxious and lifts the perceived cost of justice to 3.96 out of 5, so build secure, anonymous reporting tools.
Set up community-led routes outside the formal courts.
Only 26.7% highly trust the judiciary, so invest in community-led mediation and alternative dispute resolution.
Time calls to action for when rights are on people's minds.
84% of those who thought about their rights within the last week have officially attempted to exercise them, against 79% (last month) and 70% (a few months ago). Run campaigns right after major public debate.
