Offering legal assistance to needy people over telephone and video conference by lawyers and para-legal volunteers has given “voice of justice to the voiceless,” Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday.
The Minister was addressing an event to mark the coverage of more than nine lakh beneficiaries of the government’s tele-law scheme, using common service centres (CSCs) to provide justice across the country.
Mr. Prasad said the facility also been “a source of gender justice and empowerment”. To mark the occasion, the Minister released a special postal cover on tele-law — Reaching the Unreached.
Urging lawyers and para-legal volunteers engaged in tele-law to keep their commitment, Mr. Prasad said tele-law has the potential to foster inclusive justice delivery and strengthening rule of law.
Secretary (Justice) Barun Mitra pointed out that tele-law saw a 369% jump in the number of beneficiaries seeking legal advice during the last one year.
A third party evaluation conducted by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in January 2020 described tele-law as “a successful legal empowerment model for poor and vulnerable” and recommended increasing its footprint, Mr. Mitra added.
Presently, tele-law programme is operational in 633 districts (including 115 aspirational districts) across all the States and Union Territories using a network of 50,000 CSCs. The CSCs help needy and disadvantaged people get legal advice from a panel of lawyers using e-interface platforms.
