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LEGAL LITERACY AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
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LEGAL LITERACY AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
AUTHORED BY
- SREELAKSHMI.R
INTRODUCTION.
The legislature of the state and the Parliament,
while enacting the legislation, consider the objectives of
it. Some laws lay down the substantive rights of the masses and some touch upon the procedural aspect
of certain laws. But it is due to lack of awareness of beneficiaries that
most of the legislations are ineffective at the stage of their execution. To
quell this problem, the step of generating among the masses, awareness of their
rights has been recognized as the appropriate initiative. The source of power
among the masses has been attributed to such awareness. India is a land of various laws on a variety of subjects. Most of these pertain to the
benefits of the people. To ensure justice for all, safeguard popular rights,
and promote legal empowerment of the society, need is always felt for making
the public aware about their rights and entitlements. With the same token, such awareness can be
credited for facilitating the aggrieved person
to quickly take resort to channels available for the redressal of grievances,
through agencies like the Police, the Executive and the Judiciary. Further
the awareness of one’s legal rights paves
the way for participation of the
masses in the decision making process. It is due to this situation, that Legal
literacy has been recognized as a tool of qualitative change at the basic level
as it provides them with the adequate knowledge of their rights.
Legal literacy connotes the knowledge of the primary level in law. After
the citizens (particularly marginalized or underprivileged groups)
become aware of the rights
provided to them by law, they can use such awareness as a tool to fight
injustices. Such awareness can transform their lives. Legal literacy is the
first step to that end. Further, the better awareness of laws is a contributing
factor to help people work more effectively in diverse spheres. To give effect
to such initiative, in 2005, National Legal Literacy Mission
(NLLM) was adopted by the Central government.
NEED FOR LEGAL LITERACY
Being the part of the largest democracy, knowledge of law serves the people with the tool of power and
self-realization. Unless the people are aware of rights, they cannot live in
consonance with the true dictates
of democracy and rule of law. Legal literacy is commonly
understood as knowing the primary level in law. Need of the legal literacy is
accentuated due to following reasons:
1.
Fighting Injustice
and Women Empowerment. It is through
awareness of the laws and the objectives served by them that
citizens, particularly marginalized or underprivileged groups, can obtain the
benefits that law seeks to offer them. Taking
into consideration the present scenario, the issues like empowerment of women and making them aware of their rights
which they can use to fight injustices, becomes a distant dream in the absence
of legal literacy. Hon?ble Mr. Justice
Kabir has aptly remarked that lack of awareness and education
are the main causes for injustices being meted out to the marginalized
populations especially women. Similar observation has been made by Hon?ble
Mr. Justice Pradeep Kumar, the Judge of the High Court of Jharkahand. He
emphasized upon the women’s
need to be aware about the laws that safeguarding their interests, so that
they can approach the right authorities with their grievances in order to ensure quick justice.
In the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in
1995, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA)
was adopted, with the object
of achieving equality
for women in various
walks of life. As a result, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
was adopted, which emphasized the need for access to free or low-cost legal
services, including legal literacy,
especially focusing on women living
in poverty. It also noticed
that women’s poverty had its connection to the absence of economic
opportunities and autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, including
credit, land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to education and support services
and their minimal
participation in the decision-making process. Also Legal literacy programmes have been attributed for helping
women to understand the link between their rights and other aspects of their
lives and in demonstrating that cost effective initiatives can be undertaken to help women
obtain those rights.
2.
Understanding the Scope of Rights and Challenging their Violations. Legal literacy is essential as it is
the knowledge of law that can be used as a tool by vulnerable groups
to understand and evaluate the law, to get acquainted with the scope of
their rights under the law, and get their rights enforced by taking action and
bringing the legal machinery into force. Knowing their rights, the people can challenge violations thereof. Article 39A of the Constitution of India directs the
State to provide free legal aid with the aid of suitable legislation or
schemes. It is the awareness of rights and duties that makes the delivery of
justice and balancing of various interests an easy task.
3.
Transparency
and Accountability in the Governance.
Growing legal literacy opens the gate for a transparent and accountable
Government truly based on the “Rule of Law?. It is the awareness about rights, governance and state obligations that has contributed to the changed attitude
of the masses resulting in
demand for justice and accountability from the government. In
this regard, the contributions made by a renowned NGO, Multiple Action Research Group (MARG), is
acclaimed. Undertaking the projects like Harshingar project and project
of Building legal capacity in
Savda Ghevra, Delhi, it has
played its due role in achieving the goal of legal literacy.
4. Empowering the Poor. The legal system of a nation has a big share in empowerment of the poor people, as it confers upon
them rights, powers, privileges, and immunities along with a strong judicial
system that can give effect to these legal entitlements. The object empowerment cannot see the light unless,
the target group (here the poor) are made aware of
their entitlements in a legal system. Taking the note of the step to that end in international arena, in 2005, the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hosted the Commission on Legal Empowerment
of the Poor. The Commission realised that, lack of understanding of legal
rights and obligations serves as a barrier to access to justice for the poor.
CONCEPT OF LEGAL LITERACY IN INDIA
Definition of the term Legal Literacy.
To understand the meaning of Legal Literacy,
it is essential to go through the definition of the term literacy. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Literacy can be defined as
reference to both ability to read
and write in any language. In the terms
of the Programme for the
International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) “Literacy is
the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and
compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.
Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve
their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society”.
Legal literacy has been defined by Laird Hunter, in
Reading the Legal World, in following words: "People using the legal
system must be able to guide themselves through a process that they understand [...] and, at appropriate places along the way, ? recognize they have a legal right or
responsibility, in order to exercise
or assume it; ? recognize when a
problem or conflict is a legal
conflict and when a legal solution
is available; ? know how to
take the necessary action to avoid problems and where this is not
possible, how to help themselves appropriately;? know how and where to find
information on the law, and be able to find information that is accessible to
them, ? know when and how to obtain suitable legal assistance; ? have confidence that the legal system will provide a remedy, and
·
Understand the process clearly enough to perceive that justice has been done... Translating the information and meanings of the
legal system to learners and people with limited literacy skills requires that
lawyers and others clearly understand the dual nature of legal literacy: the
ability to read and familiarity with the legal context”. The quest for legal
literacy forms the part and parcel of the Legal Aid to the masses.
Even before the launch of the NLLM, the quest for the legal
literacy was recognized in India. The journey of legal literacy, from its
inception has taken the shape of legal rights. It was evident that the meaning
of law will stand neglected, if only the privileged sections of the society
have access to it. It was further observed that the law is meaningless unless
people have equal access to it for their protection.
NATIONAL LEGAL LITERACY MISSION.
The National Legal Literacy Mission,
with its motto “From Ignorance to Legal Empowerment”, was launched by the honourable Prime Minister of
India, Dr. Manmohan Singh launched.
This five-year Mission had its foundation in the goal of legal empowerment of
all sections of the society. Its object was to simplify the language of the law
to make people able to understand laws and judgments. Special focus was laid on
the downtrodden, minorities and women. As
evident from the speech of the Prime Minister, a democracy is meaningless, unless
the people know their basic human rights
like education, employment and
the right to live a life of dignity and self respect. Such awareness is
possible only through the mechanism of legal literacy. To remove the obstacles,
such as complex legal language
of the statutes, in understanding their rights, the Mission has been
prepared as a weapon. In the words of the former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti,” women, children, tribal and minority
communities, victims of militancy, crime, disaster, drought-
hit farmers, and sex workers
needed urgent attention”. Legal literacy, being the first step towards knowledge
of the law, the Mission
aims at legal education of all sections
of society. Objective of the Mission.
NLLM was initiated
with the aim of providing
legal education to the underprivileged persons, including
disabled people. The subject matter
of the mission was to educate
the people about law, legal terminology and legal rights.
Looking deep into the structure of the NLLM, it had
following goals:
1. To achieve 100%
legal literacy.
2. To target
the most disadvantaged, distraught, disintegrated, vulnerable and victimized
populace first and progress further
in the grass-root
lev
3. To prepare State
Specific Plan of Actions for implementation of objective of the Mission.
4. To
undertake survey, research, documentation drive, social investigation reporting
and social audit as a learning exercise of people’s problems, grievances and to
understand the nature of redressal required.
5. To
sensitize the Judicial Officers to people’s cause particularly to that of women
and children, dalit and minorities, tribal and such other most vulnerable
groups as well as persons in custody in addition to implementation of the Acts
pertaining to mentally and physically challenged, the destitute and beggars,
the orphans and neglected citizens, the abandoned elderly citizens,
discrimination in case of any caste, communal violence, disaster and disease outbreak.
Target Groups. Taking
into account the provision of the section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987,
which prescribes the criteria for giving legal services to the eligible
persons, following persons are covered under the target group of the Legal Aid services:
1. a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe; 2. a victim of trafficking in human beings or beggar as
referred to in Article 23 of the
Constitution; 3. a woman or a child; 4. a mentally ill or otherwise
disabled person; 5. a person
under circumstances of undeserved
want such as being a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste
atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disaster; or 6. an
industrial workman; or 7. a person in custody,
including in a protective home within the meaning of clause (g) of section
2 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956; or b. in a juvenile
home within the meaning of clause (j) of section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act,
1986 or c. in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home within
the meaning of clause (g) of section
2 of the Mental Health Act, 1987; or 8. a person
who receives an annual income
of less than rupees nine thousand
or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the State Govt., if the
case is before a court other than the Supreme Court, and less than rupees
twelve thousand or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the Central
Govt., if the case is before the Supreme
Court. The Mission was launched, focusing those sections of the society which
form the part of the most disadvantaged, distraught, disintegrated, vulnerable
and victimized populace. In other words, following form the target groups for
the Mission:
1. Weaker
sections of the society that include women and children, dalit and minorities,
tribal etc.;
2. Some most vulnerable
groups such as persons in custody, persons suffering from mental and physical
disabilities, the destitute and beggars, the orphans and neglected citizens,
the abandoned elderly citizens; and
3. Persons, being
the victims of discrimination on the ground of caste, communal violence,
disaster and disease outbreak.
The main features
of the Mission are as under: In line with the directives of the National Legal
Services Authority (NALSA), State
Specific Plan of Action for implementation of the Mission has been prepared
having estimated cost of Rs.71.23 lakh and activities as per
guide-lines of NALSA, in this
regard are in progress to
achieve the goal. Funding of the Mission.
As far as the funding
of the Mission is concerned, it had no funds allocated for
it in the Budget.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MISSION. In the present scenario, the
implementation of any reform policy in India does not merely depend upon the Government policies for its implementation. In this regard, the
role played by the nongovernmental agencies can’t be ignored as they have
deeper contacts at the grass roots than official government machineries. The implementation
of the legal literacy programmes as well as this
Mission depends largely upon the NALSA, state legal service authorities, the
non-governmental agencies (mainly NGOs) and the colleges. Therefore, in order
to understand the significance of the bodies involved
in the implementation of the legal literacy
programmes, it is essential to know their working and modes of
implementation adopted by them. A. National Legal Service Authority. The
National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), as constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 has a paramount
role to provide free Legal Services to the weaker sections of the
society. Among its other functions,
the Authority has an obligation to adopt measures for spreading legal literacy
and legal awareness amongst the people and, also for educating weaker sections of the society
about the rights, benefits and privileges guaranteed by social welfare
legislations and other enactments as well as administrative programmes and measures.
Also, the NALSA has the duties pertaining to:
1. monitoring
and evaluation of implementation of the legal aid programmes at periodic intervals
2. independent
evaluation of programmes and schemes implemented in whole or in part by funds
provided under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
3. providing grants-in-aid
for specific schemes to various voluntary social service institutions and the State
and District Authorities, from out of the amounts placed at its disposal for the
implementation of legal services schemes under the provisions of this Act; and
4. Organizing
legal aid camps, especially in rural area, slums or labour colonies with the
purposes of educating the weaker sections of the society as to their rights and
the settlement of disputes through ‘Lok Adalats’
LOK ADALATS
‘Lok Adalat’ connotes people’s court and is practically known as people’s
festival of justice, because of informal method of dispute settlement.
It is defined as a forum where
voluntary effort aimed at bringing about settlement disputes
between the parties
is made through conciliatory and
pervasive efforts. It has the
social goal of ending quarrels and restoring family peace. According to Justice
K.Ramaswamy, “Resolving disputes through Lok Adalat not only minimises litigation expenditure, it saves valuable
time of the parties and their
witnesses , and also facilitating inexpensive and prompt remedy appropriately
to the satisfaction of both the parties.
Legal Services Authority Act provides
for organisation of Lok Adalat by the
State Authority, District Authority,
Supreme Court or High Court Legal Service Committee or Taluk Legal Service
Committee at such intervals and places within its jurisdiction. The types of cases at Lok Adalats
are mutation of land cases,
compoundable criminal offences, family disputes, Motor Accident
Claims and cases which are not sub judice. Parties to pending disputes
or potential disputes
may agree or apply to the court for referring
disputes to Lok Adalat.
The Award of Lok Adalat
shall be deemed
to be a decree of civil Court under
section 21 of the Legal Services Authority
Act,1987.
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
In
simple words, it means litigation filed in court of law, for the protection of public interest, such as pollution, Terrorism,
Road Safety, Constructional Hazards etc. Public interest litigation is not defined
in any statute or in act. It has been interpreted by judges to consider
the intent of public at large. Although,
the main and only focus of such litigation is only Public interest.
There are various areas where a public interest litigation can be filed. For e.g. – Violation of basic human rights of the poor. The Indian PIL
is the improved version of the PIL of U.S.A. According to Ford Foundation
of U.S.A, Public interest law is the name that has given to efforts that provide legal representation to previously, unrepresented groups and interests.
In 1979, Kapila Hingorani filed a
petition and secured the release of almost 40000 undertrials from Patna’s jails
in the famous ‘Hussainara Khatoon’ case (1979
AIR 1369, 1979 SCR (3) 532). Hingorani was a lawyer. This case was filed in the SC before a Bench led by
Justice
P N Bhagwati. Hingorani is called the ‘Mother of
PILs’ as a result of this successful case. The court permitted Hingorani to
pursue a case in which she had no personal locus standi making PILs a permanent
fixture in Indian jurisprudence.
Justice Bhagwati did a lot to ensure
that the concept of PILs was clearly enunciated. He did not insist on the
observance of procedural technicalities and even treated ordinary letters from
public-minded individuals as writ petitions. Justice Bhagwati and Justice V R Krishna Iyer were among the
first judges in the country to admit PILs.
Significance of Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) in India
The original purpose of PILs has been
to make justice accessible to the poor and the marginalized.
·
It is an important tool to make human rights
reach those who have been denied rights.
·
It democratizes the access of justice to all. Any citizen/agency who is capable
can file petitions on behalf of those who cannot or
do not have the means to do so.
·
It helps in judicially monitoring state institutions like prisons, asylums,
protective homes, etc.
·
It is an important tool in judicial
review.
Criticism of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in India
Off late, PILs have become a tool for
publicity. People file frivolous petitions which result in the wastage of time of the courts.
People have used them with a political agenda as well. They unnecessarily burden the judiciary. Even
if the petition is eventually dismissed, the courts spend time and effort on
them before dismissing them.
At
present, only judges
have the power
to dismiss a petition. The Registry of the SC or HC only ensures that the technical requirements of
filing a petition are fulfilled. As a result of which petitions are admitted to
the court irrespective of the merits of the case.
Way
Forward with Public
Interest Litigation
1. The court should
not allow its process to be abused by politicians and others to delay legitimate
administrative action or to gain political objectives.
2. The PIL activists
should be responsible and accountable.
3. The court must
be careful to see that the petitioner must be acting bona fide and not for personal
gain.
4. In shaping the
relief the court must take into account its impact on those public interests.
5. Since it is
an extraordinary remedy available at a cheaper cost to all citizens of the
country, it should not be used by all litigants as a substitute for ordinary ones
or as a means to file frivolous complaints.
CASE LAWS
M.H
HOSKOT V. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA ((1978)
3 SCC 544)
This case involved a
special leave petition to appeal against three year sentence imposed by the
High Court in a case of cheating. While dismissing the special leave petition,
the court addressed the two issues it found emwrged from the facts of the case:
lenient sentencing in economic offences and the right to appeal. While
discussing the latter, the court held there was a Constitutional right to legal
aid. The court found that free legal services at the trial court and
appellate levels, where deprivation of life or personal liberty is at stake, are
a necessary component of procedural justice. Therefore, when a prisoner is disabled from engaging a lawyer, on grounds of such as indigence or incommunicado
situation, the court shall, if the circumstances of the case, the gravity of
the sentence, and the ends of justice so require,
assign competent counsel
for the prisoners defence, provided
the party does not object to that lawyer. These services must
be paid for by the state.
HUSSAINARA KHATOON v. HOME SECRETARY, STATE OF BIHAR (1979 AIR 1369)
This was a Public
Interest Litigation filed regarding the rights of undertrial prisoners and the
administration of prisons in Bihar. In this case the court discussed the
problem of undertrial prisoners not being released
on bail, and highlighted the needs for a comprehensive legal services programme, it held that legal services are an essential
ingredient of just, fair and reasonable procedure
under Article 21. The Court held that it is the constitution right of
every accused person who is unable to engage a lawyer on account of reasons
such as poverty, indigence, situation to have a lawyer provided by the state if
the circumstances of the case and the needs of justice so required. The court
also specifically directed that at
the next remand dates,
the magistrates should
appoint lawyers (provided by the state
at its own cost) on behalf of undertrial prisoners who are charged with
bailable offences or have been in prison beyond one half of the maximum
punishment they could be given, for the purpose making an application for bail.
Finally it impressed upon the Government the need to introduce a comprehensive
legal services programme.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that
Access to justice is the ability of people to seek and obtain a remedy through
formal or informal institutions of justice for grievances. There is no access
to justice where citizens (especially marginalized groups) fear the system, see
it as unfamiliar, and do not access it; where the justice system is financially
inaccessible; where individuals have no lawyers; where they do not have
information or knowledge of rights; or where there is a weak justice system. The legal literacy and legal awareness
programmes aims to empower the poor and disadvantaged sections of society to
seek and demand justice services. The programmes also seek to improve the
institutional capacities of key justice service providers to enable them to
effectively serve the poor and disadvantaged
REFERENCES
Law & Social Transformation In India Malik &
Raval Law and Social Transformation P.Iswhara
Bhat Law and Poverty Upendra Baxi
Article Information
LEGAL LITERACY AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
Authors: SREELAKSHMI.R
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2024/03/06
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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