Justice Venkatachalaiah launches app to provide legal aid

Bengaluru: Former Chief Justice of India M N Venkatachaliah on Saturday last launched the multi-lingual India Legal App, legal helpline accessible to the citizens to obtain legal assistance from their homes.

Justice Venkatachaliah, who is also a patron-in-chief of India Legal Research Foundation said that the India Legal App will benefit wide range of consumers, including a large legal community of 1.2 million lawyers and half a million students. “The app will help in disposing of around 70 percent new cases,” he added.

The first call on the app came from Meerut. An employee alleged that his employer did not give him money. Justice Venkatachaliah directed him to file a case against the employer and to approach the High Court.

The second call came from Chennai. A woman, speaking in Tamil, said that she was in a live-in relationship with a man, who clicked her private photographs and was now blackmailing her. As per the woman, her former live-in partner was threatening to upload her photographs on social media. Justice Venkatachaliah advised her to file a complaint with the police.

The India Legal App is a path-breaking legal helpline that allows every citizen of India to access high calibre legal help from the safety of her/his home at the touch of a button.

Speaking about technology and the legal profession, Prof G S Bajpai, Vice Chancellor, National Law School, New Delhi said the shape of the legal profession will be drastically impacted by the onslaught of technology in multiple ways. “There are software tools unique to the legal profession including case management system, contract management system, e-discovery software and virtual meeting software”, he added.

The Sr. Advocate and Chairman of India Legal Research Foundation, Pradeep Rai said that this app will support a lot of people who are underprivileged and who do not have access to justice.

The Senior Advocate further mentioned a case taken up by the app. He said, “Around 10-15 people from Azamgarh, who had been declared dead on papers, were running from pillar to post to prove themselves alive. The app successfully took up this case and managed to get justice for them.”

In his introductory note India Legal magazine Editor-in-Chief Inderjit Badhwar the whole concept of the App was access to justice which combines delivery of justice, fairness of the justice system, safeguarding the independence of the judiciary, Collegium system and the right of the under trials.

Prof Trilochan Sastry, former Dean, IIM, Bangalore, who spoke on the occasion said much of the legal work is in the hinterland of India where people do not know English.

“We need to have some way to reach the unreached beyond the confines of the Supreme Court. Initiatives like this take off successfully when there is a dedicated core team”, he added.

Former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit said, Access to justice has always been a cause dear to my heart. In the course of my work it was the guiding principle along which I worked. Taking judiciary and justice at the doorstep of the underprivileged and marginalized sections of society has been the principal endeavour of our justice system. From supreme court to lower courts the doors have always been open for impartial justice. However systemic difficulties have made access to justice challenging.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta and Attorney General of India R Venkataramani also addressed the webinar. The lack of knowledge of our constitutional and legal rights makes the problem more complex.

The India Legal App intends to change the way legal aid is made available to the people of the country. The ease of access, the jargon-free discussion on complex matters one can have with lawyers at the other end, a complete assurance of privacy and easy payment protocols will make your legal experience very different from the interminable legal hassles. The app can be used in 6 Indian languages. They are: English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and Punjabi.

When you are in trouble, when you are threatened, or maybe when the police arrive without notice, you need a legal ‘friend’ at the other end of a telephone line. Lawyers associated with the India Legal App are ready to help you 24x7, ready to guide you through extremely tough situations, wherever you are in the country.

The India Legal App is an embodiment of trust and faith. Any individual can install this app on their mobile device and directly communicate with a lawyer. Slowly, this facility will extend to even those without mobile India Legal App Launch Webinar Code: phones. They can avail of this service through their nearest common service centres, or Jan Suvidha Kendra/Setu/e-Seva Kendra/Pragya Kendra.