Supreme Court judge and the Chairman of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC) Justice Surya Kant has laid out his vision for bringing about a robust system, where a prisoner is given all information about his/her right to legal services once he comes to prison.
The SCLSC chairman also stated that prisoners should be told how to avail the same from the concerned legal services institution.
Interacting with the Chairpersons of various SLSAs and HCLSCs across the country, Justice Kant said the inmates must get legal services on day one in the jail.
The meeting was held as a follow-up of a campaign launched by the SCLSC Chairman in January 2025 to identify the prisoners in need of legal aid to file appeals or Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) in the Supreme Court.
The campaign was launched in all jails by involving DG/IG prisons and High
Court Legal Services Committees (HCLSCs) of all the States of India.
The three-month-long exercise was carried out to identify the prisoners whose criminal appeal had been dismissed by the High Court, those who had served more than half of sentence and their prayer for bail has been rejected by High Court, and those who were denied the benefit of remission and their challenge in the High Court had also been rejected.
Justice Kant said the SCLSC has identified 4200 prisoners who were in need of legal aid to file SLPs in the Apex Court and willing to avail legal services from SCLSC as part of this special initiative.
The Apex Court judge encouraged the Chairpersons of SLSAs and HCLSCs to send the paper books, including certified copies of the impugned orders/judgements to the SCLSC immediately so that the appeals/SLPs may be filed without delay.
He directed the SLSAs and HCLSCs to conduct such campaigns on a regular basis to identify inmates in need of legal aid from legal services institutions, noting that this should not be a one-time affair.
Justice Kant stressed on the need to keep all legal aided inmates updated about the progress of their case in the court.
He asked the Chairpersons of SLSAs and HCLSCs to monitor the campaign till the last document was sent by their respective HCLSC/SLSA.
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