National Legal Services Authority provides free legal aid to the underprivileged
National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, provides free legal aid to the underprivileged.
46 Tihar Jail inmates are paralegal volunteers <em>Photo: Aditya Kapoor/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>
Nagma Begum, 33, who lives in a Delhi slum, was constantly tormented by two neighbours. They would get drunk, leer, chuck garbage at her house, and threaten her. If she protested, things got worse. On one occasion they even hit her.
"I was briefly hospitalised after that," she says. Nagma Begum, who works as a domestic help and has five young daughters, lived in fear. Her husband, a daily wage earner, could do little to help. She complained to the police in October, but nothing happened. She was in despair. "I did not know what to do," she says.
Like many poor people, Nagma Begum did not know that the state provides free legal aid to the underprivileged under the auspices of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
The law seeks to uphold the constitutional right to equality before the law. NALSA also organises Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes. NALSA's policies are implemented by state and district legal services authorities.
NALSA Member-Secretary U. Sarathchandran says: "The poor silently suffer the violation of their rights or deprivation of their entitlements because they lack the power to react or demand their right. NALSA intervenes to empower them."
NALSA is not just about providing lawyers for free.
"Often, for the poor, justice is not court-related," says Sarathchandran. For instance, a poor person may be unjustifiably deprived of her entitlement to a BPL (below poverty line) card, needed to claim benefits under government schemes. Technically, she can go to court if denied a legal entitlement, but this may be impractical. However, the legal services authority can intervene.
"Instead of the poor approaching us, we have been reaching out to them through community paralegal volunteers since 2009," says Sarathchandran. Volunteers from the community are trained in the law and welfare schemes, and serve at the state, district and taluka levels. They identify cases in the community that need attention, and provide help or refer them to NALSA's legal counsellors.
Since 2011, NALSA has been organising legal services clinics, especially in rural areas. It has even recruited prison convicts with basic education and good behaviour to volunteer as paralegals. Tihar Jail, for instance, has 46 such volunteers. One of them, Ajay Pal Singh, says: "We help with bail applications, special leave petitions and so on for undertrials and other prisoners."
The Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has a panel of lawyers who regularly visit Tihar . "Undertrials sometimes do not know what their crime is, let alone their rights and the remedies," says Ajay Bhatia, a police officer who is on deputation to DLSA. State legal services authorities also accredit nongovernment bodies that implement NALSA's schemes.
This was, in fact, how Nagma Begum got help. She met student volunteers from Delhi University's DLSA-accredited Legal Services Clinic near her house. "We took up her case with the higher police authorities," says Clinic Director Suman, who goes by only one name. The police took Nagma Begum's neighbours to task and got them to give a written apology. "They have not troubled us since," she says. She now helps bring to light other such cases in her neighbourhood.
Sebastian P.T.
"I was briefly hospitalised after that," she says. Nagma Begum, who works as a domestic help and has five young daughters, lived in fear. Her husband, a daily wage earner, could do little to help. She complained to the police in October, but nothing happened. She was in despair. "I did not know what to do," she says.
Like many poor people, Nagma Begum did not know that the state provides free legal aid to the underprivileged under the auspices of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
The law seeks to uphold the constitutional right to equality before the law. NALSA also organises Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes. NALSA's policies are implemented by state and district legal services authorities.
NALSA Member-Secretary U. Sarathchandran says: "The poor silently suffer the violation of their rights or deprivation of their entitlements because they lack the power to react or demand their right. NALSA intervenes to empower them."
NALSA is not just about providing lawyers for free.
"Often, for the poor, justice is not court-related," says Sarathchandran. For instance, a poor person may be unjustifiably deprived of her entitlement to a BPL (below poverty line) card, needed to claim benefits under government schemes. Technically, she can go to court if denied a legal entitlement, but this may be impractical. However, the legal services authority can intervene.
"Instead of the poor approaching us, we have been reaching out to them through community paralegal volunteers since 2009," says Sarathchandran. Volunteers from the community are trained in the law and welfare schemes, and serve at the state, district and taluka levels. They identify cases in the community that need attention, and provide help or refer them to NALSA's legal counsellors.
7,000 the approximate number of legal aid clinics set up by NALSA
The Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has a panel of lawyers who regularly visit Tihar . "Undertrials sometimes do not know what their crime is, let alone their rights and the remedies," says Ajay Bhatia, a police officer who is on deputation to DLSA. State legal services authorities also accredit nongovernment bodies that implement NALSA's schemes.
This was, in fact, how Nagma Begum got help. She met student volunteers from Delhi University's DLSA-accredited Legal Services Clinic near her house. "We took up her case with the higher police authorities," says Clinic Director Suman, who goes by only one name. The police took Nagma Begum's neighbours to task and got them to give a written apology. "They have not troubled us since," she says. She now helps bring to light other such cases in her neighbourhood.
Sebastian P.T.
