Legal Aid—A Myth Or Reality

 Seven hundred years old clarion call of Magna Carta- “To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay the right to justice “very pertinently embodies the principle of legal aid. But it was only when the colonial hangover of the Indian legal system was pointed by the Committee for Legal Aid [1] and was stated that the shadow of law created by the British to suit their convenience, has resulted in an insensitive system especially towards the socio-economic problems of the masses it set out to govern and regulate, that the Indian legislature incorporated the concept of legal aid in the form of Article 39A into our constitutional framework. Hence, legal aid is not a charity or bounty, but is a constitutional obligation of the state and right of the citizens. The problems of human law and justice, guided by the constitutional goals to the solution of disparities, agonies, despairs, and handicaps of the weaker, yet larger brackets of Bharat’s humanity[2] is the prime object of the dogma of “equal justice for all”. Thus, legal aid strives to ensure that the constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its letter and spirit and equal justice is made available to the downtrodden and weaker sections of the society.[3]. Justice Krishna Iyer regards it as a catalyst which would enable the aggrieved masses to re-assert state responsibility, whereas Justice P.N. Bhagwati simply calls it “equal justice in action”. But, again the constitution not being a mystic parchment but a Pragmatic package of mandates, we have to decode its articles in the context of Indian life’s tearful realities[4] and it is here when the judiciary has to take center stage. The judicature, which by its creative interpretations has given an encyclopedic meaning to the concept of legal aid. Time and again it has been reiterated by our courts that legal aid may be treated as a part of right created under Article 21 and also under Article 14 and Article 22(1)[5]. The apex court has held access to justice as a human right.[6]thus, imparting life and meaning to law.