Duty to Render Legal Aid

A construction worker in Kurla is arrested on a Friday night. He has no money for a lawyer, and does not know he is entitled to one. On Monday a magistrate will ask whether he has a lawyer. What stands between him and a trial conducted with no one speaking for him? The answer is a chain that runs from the Constitution, through the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987, down to the advocates who are professionally bound to help.

In two minutes

Free legal aid is a constitutional promise (Art. 39A), a statutory entitlement (the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987), and an ethical duty of every advocate (Bar Council of India Rules) — so a lawyer who turns away a deserving client because he cannot pay is failing the profession.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Practical Training – I: Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.