“Justice for All”

The Constitution of India is premised on multiple fundamentals, of which equality and justice for all are the prominent beacons. The Preamble of our Constitution speaks about three contours of justice: social, economic, and political, thus emphasizing its relevance at all times. Concomitant to access to justice is the concept of the ‘welfare state,’ as envisaged under the Directive Principles of State Policy, essentially laying down cardinal and elemental notions that portray a means to secure equality and justice. Article 39A is a tool to guarantee the aforesaid idea, as this provision is based on the edifice of ‘access to justice.’ Access, in particular, refers to the capability of bringing something within the reach of a person without any hassle and as a matter of right. The importance of making justice accessible cannot be emphasized enough. To make justice accessible, ‘legal aid’ was realized in the early eighties in India.

During this time, citizens started becoming conscious of their rights, but due to poverty and ignorance resulting from British slavery, they were incapacitated from approaching the courts. The sincere need of providing the marginalized sections with legal aid was then felt, and consequently, the ‘Legal Services Authorities Act’ was enacted in 1987 by the Parliament. The objective of the Act is to provide for the establishment of such legal services institutions across the country under the aegis of a national-level authority.

The poor, downtrodden, and backward sections in India suffer from what we can call ‘legal incompetence.’ Such people are deprived of a voice that could positively assert their rights and demand them without any hiccups. To be the voice of such unheard voices, legal aid is incredibly helpful and a means of upliftment for such strata of people. Free Legal Aid is a formal embodiment of the substantive conception comprising access to justice. This conception predominantly outlines the right of a person to approach judicial fora for the redressal of his grievances, which, in turn, is secured by legal aid.

Legal Aid primarily encapsulates a mechanism to provide legal assistance at the state’s expense to the marginalized sections and is spreading ‘legal awareness’ at a mass level, thus sensitizing citizens about the existence of stringent legislations and an equally powerful mechanism to enforce those rights. This thought has achieved great heights by bringing into existence ‘Lok Adalat,’ where disputes at the pre-litigation stage and even pending cases are resolved amicably, thus creating an impact by recording huge disposals day by day.

Legal Aid emanates from two corners of the Golden Triangle of our Constitution, i.e., Article 14 and Article 21, a guarantee of equality before the law and the right to life and liberty, respectively. Hence, justice is made accessible through the right to free legal aid, which will always deserve a mention because it is a reminder to the downtrodden people of India that they will never be left behind in the lurch and will always be given a helping hand in times of distress.

The Department of Posts is pleased to issue a Commemorative Postage Stamp on the Right to Free Legal Aid.