Access to Justice: How Far it is a Human Right?

Abstract

Access to justice is one of the constitutionally recognized fundamental and human rights. Access to justice means to reach justice easily by legally proceedings in appropriate time and place. Delivery of justice should be impartial, and also take all necessary steps to provide transparent, effective, fair and accountable service to all people irrespective of caste, colour, sex, religion, economic status etc that promote access to justice. legal aid programs and campaigns are a central component of strategies to enhance access to justice for every person. Access to justice is often used as a term for access to the formal institution of the legal system by those in search of a legal remedy either by individuals or collectively or constitutional challenges. It is essential today that the effectiveness of the rule of law should go hand in hand with access to justice. The Constitution of India has provided for Article 39A, Article 14, and Article 21 that guarantee the citizens the right to access to justice.  Yet, access to justice as a human right remains problematic in international as well as national law. 

In this article, I explore the reasons why access to justice is not being delivered to many? The popular reasons include low level of awareness about the functioning of the legal system in India, high costs quoted by lawyers and delays in passing judgements that make it heavily inaccessible to justice.