Access To Justice Through Legal Aid: Mandates And Reforms

Anjali Pandey, S.S Khanna Girls' Degree College, University of Allahabad, Paryagraj

Introduction

Helping those who cannot possibly afford legal counsel or who experience difficulty accessing justice is considered as legal aid. By maintaining equality before the law, the safeguarding of the rights to life and personal liberty, as well as the right to a fair trial, legal assistance plays a crucial role. Legal aid as a human right is explicitly referred to in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),1948 and international covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966 and other regional and national legal provisions.

Although such provisions and mandates are expressly mentioned in various bona fide legal documents, and various mechanisms exist to make sure that people from all backgrounds have the smooth access to legal aid and assistance, still there surely exists a need for proper study and comparison of various policies and certain reforms to be implemented.