LEGAL AID IN INDIA: PROMOTING ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND EMPOWERING THE MARGINALIZED
AUTHOR – DEV KUMAR SHARMA, STUDENT AT INDIA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LEGAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, GOA
Best Citation – DEV KUMAR SHARMA, LEGAL AID IN INDIA: PROMOTING ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND EMPOWERING THE MARGINALIZED, ILE LEXPLORER (ILE LP), 1 (1) of 2023, Pg. 22-26, APIS – 3920 – 0041 | ISBN – 978-81-964391-3-2.
Abstract
India is a nation where both the rate of poverty and the rate of crime are rising daily. With the amount of people living in our country, not everyone can find work or maintain a living standard. It is also true that not all victims of crime can afford to defend themselves. Everybody has a right to be heard, even under the natural justice rule. The right to equal justice and unrestricted access to the courts is covered in Article 39A of the 1949 Indian Constitution, which was added by the 42nd Amendment. Legal aid refers to providing free legal assistance to the underprivileged and disadvantaged who cannot afford a lawyer to represent them in a case or legal action before a judge, jury, or other authority. The first legal aid movement appears to have started in 1851, when a law requiring lawyers to assist the poor was passed in France. The organised State efforts to help the poor and needy in Britain date back to 1944, when Lord Chancellor Viscount Simon appointed the Rushcliffe Committee to investigate the resources available in England and Wales for providing legal advice to the underprivileged and to make recommendations for the state as a whole. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs), and District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) are just a few of the stakeholders whose roles and responsibilities are examined in this article’s analysis of the current legal aid architecture and mechanisms. Additionally, it lists and explores the difficulties and restrictions encountered in the operation of legal aid programmes, including insufficient financing, a lack of awareness, and coordination problems. The essay also assesses the influence and efficacy of legal aid projects in terms of improving justice delivery, empowering marginalised communities, and reducing case backlogs. Overall, the article emphasises the importance of legal assistance in India’s legal system and stresses the demand for all-encompassing and inclusive strategies to guarantee equal opportunity for justice to all.
Keywords – free legal aid, equal justice, legal aid council, legal service authority