Saturday, December 6, 2008

Awareness

Braj Bhushan Jha's view
Legal Awareness
The Constitution of India provides under Article 39A that State, shall secure 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. Legal Aid implies giving free legal services to the poor and needy who cannot afford the services of a lawyer for the conduct of a case or a legal proceeding in any court, tribunal or before an authority.
At present the legal aid movement in India is unorganized, diffused and sporadic. There is lack of co-ordination in it. The ideal of equal access and availability of legal justice has reached almost breakdown point. There is a wide gap between the goals set and met. One law firm recently commented in a survey, “We no longer do pro bono work, we are too busy trying to survive” . Lawyers don’t engage themselves in pro bono activities because of various reasons. There is lack of financial resources. The legal education imparted earlier did not provide social education. Therefore they do not understand or accept their obligation to do so, also the members of the profession do not regularly come into contact with members of the community who need legal assistance.
Illiteracy is also a major obstacle to legal aid. Now it is common knowledge that about 70% of the people living in rural areas are illiterate and even more then that are not aware of the rights conferred upon them by law.
It is the absence of legal awareness which leads to exploitation and deprivation of rights and benefits of the poor. One need not be a litigant to seek aid by means of legal aid. Legal aid is available to anybody on the road. Justice Blackmun in Jackson v. Bishop says that; "The concept of seeking justice cannot be equated with the value of dollars. Money plays no role in seeking justice."