Lecturer, Department of law, Southern University Bangladesh
Legal aid is fundamental to social and legal justice. Bangladesh is really a developing democratic country around the globe .inside a democratic society all citizens have a very right to access to justice and obtain fair trail. The constitution of the people republic of Bangladesh 1972 has theoretically ensured use of justice, fair trial, rule of law, fundamental rights, human rights, equality before law, and equal protection of law, but due to economic crisis and ignorance of law, these constitutional protections have grown to be a fake promise on the vast majority of those.
Another paragraph in the constitution states that it should be a simple aim of the state to comprehend through the democratic process a socialist, totally free of exploitation, society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, economical and social, will probably be secured for many citizens.
Article 27 from the constitution says that every citizens are equal before the law and eligible for equal protection of law. Article 14 stipulates who’s will be fundamental responsibility with the state to emancipate backward parts of the folks from all forms of exploitation. Article 31(2) guarantees protection of law how the citizens and also the residents of Bangladesh contain the inalienable right to be treated according to law. Article 35(3) ensures speedy and fair trial. Various international documents have also been framed for the protection of those rights. Articles 7,8and 10 from the Universal Commitment of Human Rights1948, Article 14 in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, Articles 6(1) and 20(1) from the Commonwealth of Independent States Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms1995.Article 9 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights 1994, Article 3 of the African Charter on Human the ones Rights 1981, Article 24 in the American Convention on Human Rights 1978. For the following reasons, every one of these guarantees become meaningless without providing any legal aid towards the indigent persons.
Firstly: In a very suit where one party is poor and the other party is opulent, here equality, rule of law, and fair trail, ensured inside our constitution as well as other constitutions and documents on the planet cannot be maintained because the opulent party will be able to appoint a specialist advocate who are able to easily go ahead and take fruits with the suit towards his clients that the opposite advocate fail to do.
Secondly: use of justice is prevented to the poor by high legal costs, here costs include court fee, process fee, advocate fee, along with other incidental costs.
Thirdly: delay in disposal of a civil suit, in your country for your disposal of your civil suit a very extensive period are required, but poor litigants after fighting 1 or 2 years, lose their almost everything and neglect to move the suit, so the court pronounce decree in favor of the strong party.
Fourthly: a large number of individuals of the nation are ignorant concerning their rights. So without giving any legal assistance they can not ensure their rights.
When it comes to bandhu mukti morcha vs. union of India 1984, 3 scc161, the former chief justice of India P.N. Bhagwati observed, where one of many parties with a litigation belongs to an unhealthy and derived portion of the community and doesn’t possess adequate socials and material resources, he could be guaranteed to be at a disadvantage as against a powerful and powerful opponent.
Obviously it is necessary to deliver some degree of legal aid to persons otherwise struggling to afford legal representation. If it is not given it must violate the principle of equality before law and due process under the rule of law. so, for ensuring of the equality before law, due means of law and fair trial adequate legal aid is fundamental for the indigent litigants which may be given in the following ways,
1. Staff attorney model: On this model, lawyers are employed on salary solely to deliver legal be an aid to qualifying low income clients.
2. In a very Judi care model: private lawyers and lawyers are paid to address cases if you don’t take fees from your poor clients.
3. The community legal clinic: comprises non profit clinics serving a specific community through a broad range of legal services.
4. Providing information sheets to the average person for the legal assistance system.
5. Legal aid board: comprising several lawyers appointed by government with fixed salary for advocating with respect to poor clients.
6. NGOs based legal aid system: NGOs may provide legal aid by creating awareness one of the people and fighting in the court with respect to the indegent clients. There are many NGOs i.e. BLUST, AIN O SALISH KENDRA, BNWLA, are playing leading role in providing legal aid.
To make sure legal aid to the poor litigants the various countries around the globe have different steps and models. In Bangladesh, order 33 of the code of civil procedure1908, says that pauper may institute any suit being a pauper. Rule 1 defines that a person is a pauper when he isn’t capable of paying the prescribed fee or where no such fee is prescribed, when he isn’t eligible to property worth five thousand taka other than his necessary wearing apparel and the subject material in the suit. This provision has no application for its archaism so an attempt for providing legal aid towards the indigent litigants was initially used up through the government with a notification dated 18january 1994 .under the notification a legitimate aid committee was formed in each and every district. Subsequently by another notification dated 19March 1997 government formed a national legal aid committee and in addition reconstituted district legal aid committees. In 2000 legal aid act may be enacted to put the legal aid activities on the firm footing. On a careful research into the said act, some loopholes become evident to us which can be the following
1. No separate body for taking aqqlication.2.The members from the committees are from upper strata so that they often do not realize the miseries of the penurious litigants.3.No remuneration for your members from the committees so they really are reluctant to do these activities. 4. The task of with the applications has become another machine of lingering the suits.5.There’s no accountability from the members in the boards and committees.6.The Act won’t clarify that which is why cases legal aid will be presented. for these defects an unhealthy litigant are unable to take the advantage of this act.
To conclude I would like to say that to ensure fundamental rights and rule of law for that poor litigants while using affluent litigants, government should immediately take effective steps and amend the Aingoto Sohayota prodan Ain2000.