Media role vital in reaching legal aid to the poor : Rangpur judge

RANGPUR, Jan 28 (BSS): The country's mass media could play the most vital role in reaching cost-free legal aid services of the government to the poor and distressed people to ensure justice for them through creating public awareness on the programme.
District and Session Judge of Rangpur Hassan Shaheed Ferdous said this while presiding over a coordination meeting on "Government's Legal Aid Services Programme" arranged for the media workers at his conference room in the city Sunday.
District Legal Aid Committee organised the meeting in association with the National Legal Aid Services Organisation under financial cooperation of the Justice for All Programme of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Special Judge Md Rabiul Hassan, Judge of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Court of Rangpur ASM Jahurul Haque, Additional District and Sessions Judge Moynul Haque, Joint District and Sessions Judges Md Rabiul Alam and Md Shariful Islam, District Legal Aid Officer and Senior Assistant Judge Masud Parvez, addressed.
Public Prosecutor Advocate Abdul Malek, Rangpur Press club President AKM Fazlul Haque, its General Secretary Wadud Ali, journalists Shushanto Bhowmick, Mahbub Rahman, Monabber Hossain, Abu Taleb, Aftab Hossain, Merina Lovely, Siddikur Rahman, Mehedi Hassan Mamun and Asaduzzaman Afzal, addressed, among others.
In his speech, District and Session Judge Hassan Shaheed Ferdous said the government has been providing cost-free legal aid services to the poorer section and distressed people who are unable to avail legal services for financial constraints.
But, due to lack of adequate publicity, most of the poor and distressed people are not getting these cost-free legal aid services, he said.
He called upon the media workers for presenting the government's legal aid service programmes with more importance to enhance public awareness for reaching these services to the poor and distressed people to ensure justice for them.
He said 46 panel lawyers are providing legal aid services to the poor of all 76 unions under eight upazilas of Rangpur and the District Legal Aid Committee has been working for creating awareness towards the direction to make the programme successful.