legal aid
Article 39A of the Constitution directs the State to provide free legal aid so that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. The Supreme Court has read the right to free legal aid for a poor accused into Article 21: a trial in which an indigent accused is not offered a lawyer at State expense may be vitiated.
The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 sets up NALSA, State and District Legal Services Authorities and Taluk Committees. Section 12 lists those entitled, including women, children, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, persons in custody, persons with disability, victims of disaster and persons below an income limit. Legal aid covers advice, drafting, representation and court fees.
Example
The undertrial had no lawyer, so the magistrate assigned an advocate under legal aid at State expense.
In Indian law
- Articles 21 and 39A, Constitution of India
- Section 12, Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987; Section 341 BNSS (old s.304 CrPC)
- Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar, 1979 INSC 66: free legal aid part of Article 21
See also
lok adalat · para-legal volunteer · pro bono · right to life and personal liberty
Read more in the study notes
- Need for ADR, international commitments and suitability of disputes (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
- Lok Adalats and Permanent Lok Adalats (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
- Criminal procedure: meaning, background and salient features of the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Jurisdiction in inquiries and trials, evidence, and general provisions as to inquiries and trials (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Juvenile Justice Act, 2015: salient features and the Juvenile Justice Board (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Juvenile Justice Act: children in need of care and protection, the Child Welfare Committee and rehabilitation (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)