Chandrapur public defender office gave 1,748 free consultations to undertrials in a year

Advocate Vinod Borse, Chief Public Defender at the Public Defender's Office run under the Legal Services Authority at the Chandrapur District Court, has said people should take a bigger part in the authority's work. Speaking on National Legal Services Day, he said the National Legal Services Authority works so that no one is denied justice and those in need get free legal services.

According to Borse, the authority's programmes are in the public interest, and it is important for people to come forward to provide free legal help to weaker sections of society. People should join these programmes on their own and benefit from the authority's schemes.

The day is observed on November 9 because of dates in the law. The Legal Services Authorities Act was passed in 1987 to provide free and effective legal services to the poor, weak and marginalised. The Act came into force on November 9, 1995, which is why National Legal Services Day is marked on that date every year.

The District Legal Services Authority carries out many kinds of work. It provides free legal services and help to those in need, holds Lok Adalats, and settles marital disputes through mediation and compromise. It organises legal awareness camps, provides free legal services to prison inmates and undertrial prisoners, and takes information on the National Legal Services Authority's various schemes to the public.

Free legal services are given to those who cannot afford a lawyer's fee for court hearings. They include people in custody, prison inmates, women, children, members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and people who are mentally ill or physically disabled. Victims of human trafficking, mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocities, floods, drought, earthquakes and industrial disasters, industrial workers, and people with an annual income of less than Rs 3 lakh are also entitled to them.

The Public Defender's Office works under the District Legal Services Authority. Through it, the district jail is visited. At the jail's legal services clinic, inmates and undertrial prisoners get free legal services and help. Free legal advice is given to those in need during daily court proceedings, and free legal services are also provided at remand hearings, on working days and on holidays.

The office's work figures for the past year are as follows: 161 remand matters, 114 bail applications disposed of, 211 witnesses examined and 67 cases concluded. Free advice was given 128 times to people in need at the office, while undertrial prisoners were given free advice 1,748 times at the jail's legal services clinic. The jail was visited 168 times.

The office works under the administrative guidance of Abhay Lahoti, Principal District and Sessions Judge of the Chandrapur District Court and chairperson of the District Legal Services Authority, and Sudhir Ingle, secretary of the authority and Civil Judge (Senior Division). Advocate Vinod Borse is the Chief Public Defender, and Advocates Anupama Phalke and Sakiya Shaikh are currently Assistant Public Defenders.

On National Legal Services Day, Borse appealed to the disadvantaged and needy members of society to take advantage of the Legal Services Authority's schemes.