LAndmark judgmentS

Citation: (1978) 3 SCC 544
Type: SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. 408 OF 1978
Coram: D.A. DESAI, O. CHINNAPPA REDDY AND V.R. KRISHNA IYER, JJ.
Author: V.R. KRISHNA IYER, J.
Decided on: AUGUST 17, 1978


Full text available here

Facts
This case involved a special leave petition to appeal against the three year sentence imposed by the High Court in a case of cheating.

Findings
While dismissing the special leave petition, the court addressed two issues it found emerged from the facts of the case: lenient sentencing in economic offences and the right to appeal. While discussing the latter, the court held there was a Constitutional right to legal aid. The court found that free legal services at the trial court and appellate levels, where deprivation of life or personal liberty is at stake, are a necessary component of procedural justice. Therefore, when a prisoner is disabled from engaging a lawyer, on grounds such as indigence or incommunicado situation, the court shall, if the circumstances of the case, the gravity of the sentence, and the ends of justice so require, assign competent counsel for the prisoner's defence, provided the party does not object to that lawyer. These services must be paid for by the State.

Citation:(1983) 2 SCC 96
Type: WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NOS. 1053-1054 OF 1982
Coram: A.N. SEN, P.N. BHAGWATI AND R.S. PATHAK, JJ.
Author: P.N. BHAGWATI, J.
Decided on: FEBRUARY 15, 1983


Full text available here

Facts
This was a Public Interest Litigation filed in response to the custodial violence against female prisoners in Bombay.

Findings
The court issued directions on the need to provide legal assistance to all prisoners lodged in jails in Maharashtra. The court reiterated the constitutional imperative of providing legal aid to poor accused that face deprivation of life or personal liberty. It emphasised the importance of this right to restore faith in the justice system, to protect rights of prisoners against torture and ill-treatment and especially when their incarceration may prevent access to legal assistance. To ensure that prisoners have access to legal aid, the court directed the Maharashtra prisons to send a list of all undertrial prisoners to the Legal Aid Committee of the district and to facilitate interactions between lawyers nominated by these Legal Aid Committees and prisoners who desire legal assistance.

Citation: (2012) 8 SCC 553
Type: CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 140 OF 2008
Coram: A.K. PATNAIK AND MADAN B. LOKUR, JJ.
Author: MADAN B. LOKUR, J.
Decided on: AUGUST 9, 2012


Full text available here

Facts
This was a case of gang rape where the appellant was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and he was unrepresented in the appeal before the High Court.

Findings
The primary question discussed is the right to legal representation at the appellate stage. Recounting the legislative and judicial history of the right to legal aid, the court noted that there is no distinction in the Constitution of India, 1950 or the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 between a trial and an appeal for the purposes of providing free legal aid to an accused or a person in custody. An eligible person is entitled to legal services at any stage of the proceedings which he or she is prosecuting or defending. Therefore the High Court was obligated to enquire whether he required legal assistance, and if he did, to provide it to him at State expense. The court in dictum also expressed reservations about the exceptions to the right to legal aid discussed in Khatri and Ors. v. State of Bihar and Ors. and Suk Das v. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh for economic offences, prostitution and child abuses, arguing that these are not tenable in light of the constitutional mandate and the principle of presumption of innocence.

Citation: (1980) 1 SCC 98
Type: WRIT PETITION NO. 57 OF 1979
Coram:D.A. DESAI AND P.N. BHAGWATI, JJ.
Author: P.N. BHAGWATI, J.
Decided on: MARCH 9, 1979


Full text available here

Facts
This was a Public Interest Litigation filed regarding the rights of undertrial prisoners and the administration of prisons in Bihar.

Findings
The court discussed the problem of undertrial prisoners not being released on bail, and highlighted the need for a comprehensive legal services programme. It held that legal services are an essential ingredient of just, fair and reasonable procedure under Article 21. The court held that it is the constitutional right of every accused person who is unable to engage a lawyer on account of reasons such as poverty, indigence or incommunicado situation to have a lawyer provided by the State if the circumstances of the case and the needs of justice so required. The court also specifically directed that at the next remand dates, the magistrates should appoint lawyers (provided by the State at its own cost) on behalf of undertrial prisoners who are charged with bailable offences or have been in prison beyond one half of the maximum punishment they could be given, for the purpose of making an application for bail. Finally it impressed upon the Government the need to introduce a comprehensive legal services programme.

Citation:(1986) 2 SCC 401
Type: CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 725 OF 1985
Coram: P.N. BHAGWATI, C.J., D.P. MADON AND G.L. OZA, JJ.
Author: P.N. BHAGWATI, C.J.
Decided on: MARCH 10, 1986


Full text available here

Facts
This was an appeal against a two year imprisonment for criminal intimidation where the accused was unrepresented for the trial and did not make an application for legal aid.

Findings
The question in this case was whether the fundamental right to legal assistance at state cost could be denied if he did not apply for free legal aid. The court reiterated the holding of Khatri and Ors. v. State of Bihar and Ors. that the magistrate is under an obligation to inform the accused of his right to free legal services if he cannot engage a lawyer because of poverty. In this case, since the Additional Deputy Commissioner did not inform the appellant of his right to free legal assistance, and the accused remained unrepresented during trial, which led to a conviction; the trial was vitiated on account of the violation of the Fundamental Rights of the accused under Article 21 and the conviction was set aside.

Citation: (2012) 9 SCC 1
Type: CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1961 OF 2011
Coram: AFTAB ALAM AND C.K. PRASAD, JJ.
Author: AFTAB ALAM, J.
Decided on: AUGUST 29, 2012


Full text available here

Facts
This was an appeal against a death sentence for the offence of terrorism.

Findings
The court reiterated that the right to access legal aid arises when a person arrested in connection with a cognisable offence is first produced before a magistrate. The magistrate is obligated to make the accused fully aware of this right and failure to discharge this duty would make the magistrate liable to departmental proceedings. However the court held that while failure to provide a lawyer at the commencement of the trial would vitiate the trial and the resultant conviction and sentence, failure to provide a lawyer at the pre-trial stage may not have the same consequence. The accused may have the right to claim compensation against the State, but the trial is not vitiated unless it is shown that this failure resulted in material prejudice to the accused in the course of the trial.

Citation: (1981) 1 SCC 627
Type: WRIT PETITION NO. 5670 OF 1980
Coram: P.N. BHAGWATI AND A.P. SEN, JJ.
Author: P.N. BHAGWATI, J.
Decided on: DECEMBER 19, 1980


Full text available here

Facts
This was a Public Interest Litigation filed regarding the blinding of prisoners in Bihar.

Findings
While discussing the right of these prisoners to compensation, the court noted the absence of legal representation to these prisoners when they were produced before the magistrate, where they neither requested it nor did the magistrate enquire if they desired legal representation at state cost. The court criticised the failure of lower courts to follow the binding decision of the Supreme Court in Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar and ensure the constitutional right to legal representation. It also pointed out that the State cannot avoid its constitutional obligation to provide free legal services to an indigent accused by pleading financial or administrative inability. It emphasised that this obligation attaches when the accused is first produced before the magistrate. Noting the lack of awareness of legal rights, the court held that there is an obligation on the magistrate to inform the accused that if he is unable to engage the services of a lawyer on account of poverty, he is entitled to free legal services at the cost of the State. The court qualified that this only applies in cases that would result in imprisonment and where the circumstances of the case and the needs of social justice require that he should be given free legal representation. The court mentions that cases involving offences such as economic offences, prostitution or child abuse need not require that legal aid be provided.

Citation:AIR 2012 SC 750
Type: CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1091 OF 2006
Coram: H.L. DATTU AND C.K. PRASAD, JJ.
Author: H.L. DATTU AND C.K. PRASAD, JJ.
Decided on: JANUARY 11, 2012


Full text available here

Facts
This was an appeal against a death sentence in a case of a bomb blast on a bus.

Findings
The court found that the legal aid counsel appointed failed to appear for much of the trial and failed to cross-examine multiple witnesses against the accused. The court noted that the Sessions Judge did not ask the accused whether he was able to appoint counsel or wished to have counsel appointed. Another lawyer was appointed, but only at the end of the trial. The representation provided was such that it was a denial of effective and substantial assistance of counsel and was found to be a violation of the right to due process and a fair trial. The matter was referred to a three judge bench to determine whether it should be directed for de novo consideration by the trial court, which the court held in favour of in light of the serious nature of the crime.

Citation: AIR 2020 SC 232
Type: CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 62-63 OF 2014
Coram: U.U. LALIT, INDU MALHOTRA AND KRISHNA MURARI, JJ.
Author: U.U. LALIT, J.
Decided on: DECEMBER 18, 2019


Full text available here

Facts
This was an appeal against a death sentence by a prisoner from Madhya Pradesh in a case of rape and murder of a minor.

Findings
The court found that the amicus curiae in this case was not given sufficient time to prepare, which was a denial of the right to legal aid, since it could not be said to be real and meaningful. The court set aside the conviction and sentence and directed for de novo consideration of the case. The court then laid down norms to prevent such a situation from emerging again: in cases where there is a possibility of life sentence or death sentence, advocates with minimum 10 years experience alone should be appointed as legal aid counsel; in the High Court during confirmation of death sentence, Senior Advocates must first be considered for appointment as amicus curiae; and counsel must be given sufficient time to prepare.