Legal assistance for the poor
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
It was revealed in a roundtable discussion last year that 1,028 people had been languishing in jail without trial for two years. This showed how severely human rights can be violated in a country like Bangladesh where the poor are extremely vulnerable to such violation of their basic rights due to their poverty and hence inability to access the judicial system.
It is very likely that these people are mainly from poor sections of society who are either not knowledgeable about their human rights or do not have the financial strength to appoint lawyers to move for their release or bail in the interim period until their cases come to courts. Ordinarily, the state should have conducted judicial proceedings against them or even provided legal assistance to them free of charge to complete the cases against them to keep in jail only those who would be legally convicted. The government has been provisioning a legal aid system for the poor to access justice. But it has very limited availability and application which means that poor people generally continue to be very frustrated in having proper access to the legal system.
The present government has created high expectations among the people by addressing issues of great significance to the country and its people. It is, therefore, only expected of it that it would turn its attention to the pressing need of extending adequate legal assistance to the poor.
Nazneen Hossain
Baridhara, Dhaka
It is very likely that these people are mainly from poor sections of society who are either not knowledgeable about their human rights or do not have the financial strength to appoint lawyers to move for their release or bail in the interim period until their cases come to courts. Ordinarily, the state should have conducted judicial proceedings against them or even provided legal assistance to them free of charge to complete the cases against them to keep in jail only those who would be legally convicted. The government has been provisioning a legal aid system for the poor to access justice. But it has very limited availability and application which means that poor people generally continue to be very frustrated in having proper access to the legal system.
The present government has created high expectations among the people by addressing issues of great significance to the country and its people. It is, therefore, only expected of it that it would turn its attention to the pressing need of extending adequate legal assistance to the poor.
Nazneen Hossain
Baridhara, Dhaka