Who Can Apply for Legal Aid in Bangladesh

The main objective of a legal aid scheme is to make the law and services available to all those who are committed to the internationally recognized principle of equality of justice. If legal aid cannot be obtained by law, equality before the law cannot be said to have been achieved.15 Case law also states that detention can never be authorized simply because the police or prosecutor`s office requires it; Bail denial should never be a routine matter. The requirement that the judge “must record the reasons for his decision” (section 497 § 3) has been interpreted by the courts to mean that “it must be clear from the record that the judge has considered the question of the extension of detention, having regard to the stage of his investigation and the evidence gathered so far. A routine police prayer order will not be an appropriate order for continued detention. [9] In Daulat Singh, the Court stated that “depriving a person of his liberty is an extremely serious measure, and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that every step of this process should be extremely considerate and extremely careful.” [10] In addition, the 1965 United States Conference on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders and the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights gave due importance to provisions relating to legal aid in criminal matters. The goal around which the legal aid program is woven by developing countries is to unify the law for the poor and privileged parts of a democratic country.16[3] These apparent misunderstandings about when bail should be granted in cases involving alleged crimes without bail have been described as a “gap between theory and practice.” (Chowdhury, 2017). This gap can be reduced by (a) practical instructions from the Chief Justice on the application of the law, accompanied by (b) appropriate training for judges, judges, prosecutors and lawyers, and (c) monitoring compliance by the Supreme Court. Such measures are likely to result in more people who have committed non-bailable crimes being released earlier on their FIR or indictment. As a result, the poor are disappointed when they seek legal aid to deal with cases, particularly because of the lack of ad valorem court fees.

In addition, from time to time, other incidental costs are related to the processing of cases, such as travel expenses for clients and witnesses, as well as various miscellaneous expenses that NLASO has not paid clients. The fact is that the granting of legal aid in criminal matters is recognized throughout the world. Legal aid as a human right is implicit in articles 7, 8 and 10 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, in particular, follows clearly and inevitably. Legal aid is assistance for people who would not otherwise be able to afford legal representation or access justice. Legal aid is considered essential to ensure equal treatment before the law, the right of access to a lawyer and the right to a fair trial by guaranteeing equality before the law. This article focuses on the development of legal aid and its ideas in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States. In the 40 years of its independent constitutional history, the legal aid movement in Bangladesh only gained momentum at the government level in 2000. It was in 2000 that the government, by promising financial cooperation through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), took the initiative to provide legal aid to indigent litigants. [58] In defining the term, the International Commission of Jurists includes provisions for legal advice and representation before the courts for all persons threatened with assassination. Freedom, property or reputation and are unable to pay for it due to a specific and fortuitous fact. Legal practitioners use the term “legal aid” to refer to one or more of the following three aspects: (a) the provision of financial assistance; (b) advice on all legal matters; or (c) defend any person in court. In this digital age, the Government of Bangladesh has made the right decision to expand legal aid services, which are the national legal helpline (16430).

The second most common reason for denying bail is that “the evidence against the accused is strong.” [11] This practice is also against the law, except in the case of an offence punishable by death or life imprisonment. It was noted that, recently, “an erroneous impression seems to have crept in that the Court, when dealing with a bail issue, should form an opinion on the merits of the prosecution case as a whole”. [12] This impression was rejected in the Sanyasayya v. Prosecutor case, where the judge stated that “the court is not called upon to conduct a preliminary trial of the case and to consider the likelihood of guilt or innocence of the accused. [but]. to consider whether bail, as opposed to the arrest of the accused, could lead to a real reason to believe that he is likely to manipulate witnesses who would be summoned for the prosecution”. [13] Again, the case law is clear. Bail should be granted unless there is evidence that it could impede the investigation. If the courts applied this simple rule, rather than trying to assess the weight of substantial evidence in an often lengthy de facto pre-trial period, it would likely allow people to get bail much earlier. Many Bangladeshi NGOs offer free legal services.

Blast (Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust) is a leading organization for free legal services. The Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust has national networks of lawyers and currently provides legal assistance and mediation in eighteen districts and five legal aid clinics.63[18] [i] The forensic audit collects data on the entire criminal justice system, which is seen as an interconnected set of processes, and makes a data-driven diagnosis.