Imagine a beautiful nation amidst all the pure and pious objects bestowed on the citizen but not aware of the advantages and the serenity they have access to. What will be the benefit of having them if the people who need to use them do not know about them? A situation like this is akin to the right to legal aid in our country.
Legal aid is free legal assistance to the poor and weaker sections of society to enable them to exercise the rights given to them by law. In India, Law is supreme. Thus, the Rule of Law is regarded as an essential part of the Constitution’s structure and adds essence to the natural law and justice.
The preamble of the Constitution secures its citizen social, economic and political justice. Article 14 of the Constitution clarifies that the StateState shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. This focuses on ensuring equal justice. The guarantee of equal justice is meaningless if the poor or illiterate, or weak strata cannot enforce their rights because of their circumstances.
Legal aid is not only about the legal help that is given to the citizens in the literal form. It includes the assistance that is given to the citizens of the nation. However, on the contrary, the level of knowledge that people have about this blessing is equivalent to the newborn baby.
As political philosopher; Charles de Montesquieu said, “In the State of nature…all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.“
Even in ancient times, it was clear that some level of inequality was prevalent, even if the people were the masters of their own will. It is said that society brings in the people’s good and gives them all the benefits to the people residing. Human beings are not made to live in solidarity. This can also be proved by the fact that solidarity is considered a severe punishment in the States.
However, with this also comes the problem of the unequal distribution of powers and resources. This leads to the division of society into the rich and poor classes. This, in turn, increases the power of a handful of people to suppress a particular class of people.
Therefore, this condition brings into the need for rights and powers that would increase the sense of equality irrespective of caste, colour, creed, race and sex. Article 14 to article 19 of the Constitution gives the right to equality and forbids discrimination on any grounds. The protection of the rights and law is a vital part of these articles so that they are not discriminated against based on their illiteracy, economic conditions to attain equal justice in the judicial system.
This discrimination is sorted by creating Legal aid systems run by both central and StateState governments. Legal aid is the free legal assistance given to the poor and backward people to assist them in getting justice. Justice P.N.Bhagwati has rightly said that “the poor and the illiterate should be able to approach the Courts and their ignorance and poverty should not be an impediment in the way of their obtaining Justice from the Courts.”
The Constitution of India gives foremost importance to constitutionalism and the rule of law.
The rule of law in India is considered part of the Constitution’s basic structure and natural justice. It says that individuals should not be penalised without hearing them is against the basic structure. Moreover, they should not be held without receiving prior notice of the case. Article 14 states that if the article can not ensure equality irrespective of the monetary and literary backwardness, it disrupts the right’s fundamental essence.
The right to legal aid is an essential part of the Constitution. It zest can also be seen the Article-21 of the Constitution, which states that no person shall be deprived of his way of life by the procedure guaranteed by the law for the judicial procedure.
In-State of Maharashtra v. Manubhai Pragaji Vashi, The Supreme Court has made it quite clear that it is now well established that the failure to provide free legal aid to an accused at the cost of the StateState unless refused by the accused, would vitiate the trial.
Therefore, legal aid acts as a boon to society when it comes to neutralising the strata. It not only brings a sense of equality amongst the poorest of poor and the weakest of the weak. It helps to keep the essence of the Constitution and the concept of the rule of law intact.
Aishwarya Says:
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