New Delhi: For the first time after its inception, the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC) has received 2,000 criminal appeals from prisoners registered in different parts of the country in the last two months, while it was handled annually compared to 700 to 1,000 cases till last year.
Established in 1986, SCLSC is the Supreme Court’s Legal Aid Body that provides free legal representation to those in the apex court who cannot tolerate it.
The numbers are a result of the active approach of the upper SCLSC that includes the initiative to convince the prisoners to use the aid of the committee to register their appeal in jails, to make their appeal in jails.
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In January this year, the body carried forward its efforts to create awareness about SCLSC’s reputation as a reliable and reliable legal aid clinic in the Supreme Court.
Under the chairmanship of Justice Surya Kant, who will become the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in late November, SCLSC opened a communication channel with prisoners, in addition to using reinforcement measures such as daily announcements on loudspeakers and distributing pamphlets.
A letter written by Justice Kant was read several times in jails across the country. Addressing the prisoners, this letter assured every convict and undertrial of the lawyer of his choice.
A senior SCLSC official said, “This letter was sent to the Director General of Each Jail in the country and the instructions were issued to the prisoners to read their content vigorously so that they repeat the confidence in SCLSC and reach it for legal aid.”
The official said it was a difficult task to assure the prisoners. “Prisoners were concerned about the quality of legal aid. This doubt was one of the primary reasons that the prisoners had preferred to jail, instead to appeal to the Supreme Court through SCLSC. For them, free legal aid means poor quality lawyer.”
“Spreading the message through the sound system did the best work,” he further said.
How the exercise started
The work of rebuilding the SCLSC image among the prisoners began in January this year. Presiding over a meeting, Justice Kant Learned whether the body was handling only two to three criminal appeals per day or in 700–1,000 cases annually. He found the number very little, given that about 65,000 cases have been registered with the body every year, of which legal assistance was given in cases between 1,500 and 2,000.
To increase the filing from Prisoner The side, SCLSC, first practiced to identify the culprits/undertrials, who were eligible to file an appeal, but did not do so.
For this, he wrote to Director Generals and Inspector General of JailsThey are asking them to identify the prisoners who were convicted by both the trial court and the High Court, but did not contact the Supreme Court.
The second category of prisoners, on which information was sought, was those whose trial courts were reversed by the High Court.
Third, the SCLSC wanted to know about the prisoners whose appeal was pending either the session court or the High Court, spent half of the sentence in the jail and was eligible to file a bail plea in the apex court.
The fourth category was of prisoners who qualified for premature release and HC upheld the state’s demonetisation board’s decision to reject them.
Within two-and-a-half months, SCLSC received details of 4,216 prisoners under all four categories.
With this data in hand, on 1 April, Justice Kant held a virtual meeting with all the High Court Legal Services Committees (HSLSC) and the State Legal Services Committees (SLSC), asking them to promote SCLSC’s promise that they were asked to help the prisoners to help with the best possible legal assistance.
Subsequently, five panels involving lawyers associated with HCLSC and SLSC were formed. Assess each gel In the country. These panels visited jails four times, engaged with prisoners and convinced them to file an appeal. By April-end, SCLSC was informed that 3,800 prisoners agreed to appeal through SCLSC.
“I was identified before 4,216 prisoners, some of them preferred to hire their own lawyers. Finally, a confirmed list of 3,800 prisoners who wished for legal aid from SCLSC sent us.”
Snow
The SCLSC official said that the lawyers were able to break snow with prisoners in their third meeting.
“In the first two meetings, the prisoners were extremely rigid and a refusal mode. He felt that legal aid means poor quality of legal aid. Some of them doubted the concept of free lawyers and believed that the cost hidden in the proposal would be. They feared that their punishment could be increased, while their appeal was not entertained,”
Once the identity process was over, Justice Kant held another virtual meeting on 5 May. This time all the High Courts had to instruct to complete the paperwork required to file an appeal. They were told to get the signatures of all the prisoners who authorize SCLSC to represent them and also prepare. Paper Books (Case Files).
“Now between May 5, we have got the entire paper books Vakalannamas (A legal document that authorizes a lawyer to represent a party in the court proceedings of 2,000 prisoners). These paper books include the translated version of the trial court records of cases and HC decisions which are subject to the challenge, ”the official said.
The responsibility of preparing paper books was given to HCS so that the lawyers handed over by SCLSC to argue for prisoners do not have to run to post from the column for documents.
The incomplete files were one of the reasons for the delayed adjournment of cases filed by SCLSC.
600 lawyers
To ensure that the prisoners are not disenchanted with its service, SCLSC upgraded its team of lawyers. The team of imperialist lawyers have been appointed from 175 to 600 and 180 junior lawyers to provide assistance to seniors.
Of the 600 lawyers, there are 200 advocates-on-rids who will file cases, debate on 200 lawyers, while 75 senior advocates are nominated.
“We have received positive response from all the High Courts and Jails that are giving us regular updates about the preparation and their dispatch,” the official said.
(Edited by Geetanjali Das)
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