LEGAL AID: A NEED TO DO JUSTICE WITH EVERYONE -By: Tejaswini Prasad

We have seen in the past how injustice has taken place especially injustice with the poor people. Though injustice here is not only with the poor section of the society but every people who are not able to get justice. In our society women and children too suffer from injustice. With this very idea to provide justice to everyone in the nation, the scheme was introduced by Justice Bhagwati under the Legal Aid Committee formed in the year 1971. Therefore the concept of ‘Legal Aid’ got its place under Part IV of the Directive Principles of State Policy, Article 39A of the Constitution of India. That is to say that, the state now has to provide Free Legal Aid and Equal Justice to the needy. Article 39A was inserted by the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976.

The concept of Free Legal Aid is read with Article 21 as Article 21 states about “Protection of Life and Personal Liberty.” So ultimately it is one of the rights of every citizen to get justice. When we go in-depth with the concept of Legal Aid, we get to know that there are still so many people in our society who are not able to get justice. The idea behind the formation of Legal Aid is still not fulfilled. The women who suffer from mental and sexual harassment need justice but due to no access to the same, they are still not able to get justice. We very well know the dark side of our society, especially in the tribal areas, people need to know about their rights and duties. About children, we every day see that children are begging for food and they do not even get any access to education. The people living in the slum areas need to access these. For this purpose, the government needs to work on these areas to help women, children, tribal people and all of them who are the most affected to get justice on time.

While analysing the concept of providing Free Legal Aid, there comes another very negative side of our society. Like we very well know that, though law colleges have Legal Aid Corner but barely they do anything for the needy people. To recommend, the government should amend the rules by making Legal Aid Corner compulsory even for private(aided and unaided) and government schools and also for every college across the nation so that nearby people can always come to take help. As everyone deserves justice and everyone should be well aware of their rights and duties so by amending the law, we can help the needy on time. They won’t have to run for a particular college for ‘Legal Help’ but nearby Legal Aid Corner will help them on time. Also, we need to work on training people who are a part of Legal Aid Corner that is to say that, they should focus on skill because only then needy people could get benefitted. So we need proper implementation of the laws and also the monitoring of the system because only then the best can be done.