International Bridges to Justice, India

“Urgent need to Team up Lawyers to Make People aware about their Basic Legal Rights”

Article 22 of the Constitution: (1) “No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may ne, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice. (2)“Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of 24 hours of such arrest and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of the magistrate”According to the Indian ConstitutionNo one can be arrested without being told the reasons for his arrest. If arrested, the person has the right to defend himself by a lawyer of his choice and an arrested citizen has to be brought before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours.During Karen’s visit (IBJ CEO) in India on February 2010, particularly in prisons in Kolkata, violation of the article 22 of the Indian Constitution was noticed. The violation is scandalous and the situation must change quickly. It was seen judicial custody’s of the under trials is being extended by the Magistrates without actually seeing the accused. Though the accused are coming to court lockups from the prison but they are not being produced before the court. During the trial if the lawyer wishes that his/her client’s presence is required then he has to move an application for production of his/her client which is clear violation of the Constitutional Rights.This violation is part of a big challenge for the Legal Services AuthoritiesIn India, under trials constitute 66 % of the jail population (80% in Delhi). The jails are overcrowded as can be seen from the fact that occupancy rates in excess of the capacity of jails is over 36 % in the country, whereas in Delhi, it is 186 % (and 279% in the central jail n.2: Tihar prison).During a recent visit of the Central Prison, Tihar (Largest Prison in South East Asia), one measure looks obvious. IBJ must assist prison authorities to help them to overcome with the problem of the overcrowding prison population. There is urgent need to have a dedicated team of lawyers who can render their services to the poor inmates who can’t afford to engage private lawyers.IBJ can bridge the communication gap between the Jail inmates and the Lawyers who would pursue their cases. And this concept could have a double effect: help prisoners to access to a counsel and fight against overcrowding.This measure could improve the respect of the article 39 A of the Constitution which requires the State to “secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability”.In order to deliver this constitutional promise, the Indian Parliament enacted, in 1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act (LSAA) which gives an expansive meaning to “legal services’. Categories of persons automatically entitled to legal aid are listed in section 12 of the LSAA. Network of legal aid is set up at the village, district and state level. The two mains objectives of the National Legal Services Authority are the organization of lok adalats and the delivering of free legal aid. A lok adalat is intended to be a mechanism to encourage a consensual resolution of a dispute. Legal aid consists in delivering an attorney at people of weaker sections of the society. Legal Services Authorities after examining the eligibility criteria of an applicant provide him counsel at State expense, pay the required Court Fee in the matter and bear all incidental expenses in connection with the case. The person to whom legal aid is provided is not called upon to spend anything on the litigation once it is supported by a Legal Services Authority. Moreover, Section 304 of the Criminal Procedure code guarantees that “if the accused is not represented by a pleader, and where it appears to the court that accuse has not sufficient means to engage a pleader, the Court shall assign a pleader for his defense at the expense of the state”.But, this double perspective – lok adalaks and legal aid- showed itself ineffective: the combination of 4 factors explains the inabilityof the LSA to deliver a real speedy legal aid: legal services are poorly unutilized because there is a lack of awareness of the availability of legal aid, a common sense that free service is incompatible with quality service, a lack of lawyers delivered by the LSA and a disinterestedness of lawyers and legal aid administrators in respecting article 22 and 39 A of the Constitution . IBJ Aims to work with the Government and quasi government authorities to assist them to overcome with these challenges. Organizing right awareness campaigns for General Public besides frequent trainings programs for the lawyers who team up to render their services to the poor. By this way the Lawyer would be able to cater effective services to the marginalized section of the society.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top