The Hindu : Front Page : ''Simplify language of law; make legal awareness a reality''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 07, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

''Simplify language of law; make legal awareness a reality''

By Our Staff Reporter

MAKING IT MEANINGFUL: The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, releasing the official mascot for the National Legal Literacy Mission 2005 in New Delhi on Sunday as the Chief Justice of India, R. C. Lahoti, looks on. — Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, today asked the legal fraternity to simplify the language of law to make legal awareness a reality for the common man. Dr. Singh was addressing a gathering of judges and judicial officials during the launch of the "National Legal Literacy Mission (2005-2010)" which aims at making justice more accessible and affordable to the downtrodden.

Dr. Singh said: "Sometimes even highly educated people have a problem understanding and interpreting the correct meaning of some of our laws. It is difficult to understand them without the full assistance of a trained lawyer...[this] acts as a hurdle to legal literacy." Simplifying the legal language at the drafting stage and also while making judicial pronouncements would make it easy for the common man to understand the same.

Assures support

Dr. Singh assured his support to the Mission and said that it was the Government's job to make people aware of their legal rights. "No one can plead in a court of law as defence that he was unaware of [the] law. This presumption of law creates a duty on the part of the Government to make the people aware of laws," he said. There was also a higher chance of people abiding by the rules if more people were aware of the laws.

Delivering the keynote address, the Chief Justice of India, R.C. Lahoti, said providing justice did not end by keeping the doors of the courts open to everyone. "At the time of Independence, the framers of our Constitution had visualised India to be just and equitable to all its citizens... (but) in the 21st century India, concepts of `just' and `equitable' remain unfamiliar for the millions of people who still remain beyond the safety net of law and justice." Increased legal literacy would allow people to fight injustices.

The Union Minister for Law and Justice, Hans Raj Bhardwaj, said that the concept of rule of law was meaningless if people were unaware of the laws.

The Supreme Court Judge, N. Santosh Hegde, said that the Mission was not about encouraging people to go in for more litigation but reduce it through alternative methods.

"Poorest of the poor"

The Mission, to be implemented by the National Legal Services Authority, aims at reaching out to the poorest of the poor. There will be focus on the Scheduled Castes/Tribes, women, children, victims of militancy, victims of other crimes, minority communities, Dalits and tribal committees (particularly in the North-East), farmers affected by natural calamities, girls who are caught in the trafficking net and sex workers.

It will also sensitise the Police, the Army and other paramilitary forces about the dangers and the injustice of custodial torture. The work will be carried out through a network of committees from taluk levels to the Apex Court. Teams of "para-legals," including law students and workers from the non-governmental organisations, will help the Authority in implementing the Mission.

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