ISSN2320-2882
Impact Factor9.17
UGC ParametersAligned
Low Cost₹1501 / $59
CrossRefDOI
ESTD2013
Peer ReviewTransparent
AccessOpen
Submission: Always Open
Paper Title
Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments
Authors
Ms. Purvi Panwar
Keywords
Key Words: Article 21, Article 39A, Constitutional Law, Directive Principles of State Policy, Equal Justice, Free Legal Aid, Judicial Activism, Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, Lok Adalats ,NALSA , Public Interest Litigation (PIL), Social Justice.
Abstract
Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments
Purvi Panwar
Assistant Professor
Himachal Pradesh College of Law
Kala- Amb
Abstract:
The concept of Free Legal Aid serves as the foundation of a refined justice system, ensuring that the doors of justice are not closed to anyone due to economic or social disabilities. This paper examines the comprehensive evolution of the right to legal aid in India, tracing its route through constitutional mandates, legislative frameworks, and judicial activism. The Right to free legal aid gain formal recognition through the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 which inserted Article 39A, directing the State to provide free legal services. However, the true transformation occurred through the transformative interpretation of Article 21 by the Supreme Court, elevating legal aid from a directive principle to fundamental rights. The study further analyzes the statutory strength provided by the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, which established a three-tier structure (NALSA, SLSA, and DLSA) and institutionalized Lok Adalats as a mechanism for affordable dispute resolution.By analyzing landmark judicial pronouncements such as Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar and M.H. Hoskot v. State of Maharashtra, this paper highlights how the judiciary has bridged the gap between theoretical rights and practical accessibility.
Full Paper, Downloads & Preview
How To Cite
Choose the style your journal or department asks for, then copy it. Every version below is generated from this paper's own record.
IJCRT — journal style
"Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments", IJCRT - International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (www.ijcrt.org), ISSN:2320-2882, Vol.14, Issue 1, page no.a39-a48, January 2026, Available :https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2601007.pdf
APA — 7th edition
Panwar, P. (2026). Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 14(1), a39-a48. https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007
MLA — 9th edition
Panwar, Purvi. "Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments." International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, vol. 14, no. 1, 2026, pp. a39-a48, https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007.
Chicago — 17th, bibliography
Panwar, Purvi. "Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments." International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts 14, no. 1 (2026): a39-a48. https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007.
Harvard — author–date
Panwar, P. (2026) 'Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments', International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 14(1), pp. a39-a48. Available at: https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007
IEEE — numbered reference
P. Panwar, "Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments," IJCRT, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. a39-a48, Jan. 2026.
Vancouver — biomedical
Panwar P. Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments. IJCRT. 2026 Jan;14(1):a39-a48.
AMA — 11th edition
Panwar P. Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments. IJCRT. 2026;14(1):a39-a48. Accessed at https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007
BibTeX — Zotero, Mendeley, LaTeX
@article{IJCRT2601007,
author = {Purvi Panwar},
title = {Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments},
journal = {International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts},
volume = {14},
number = {1},
pages = {a39-a48},
year = {2026},
month = {January},
issn = {2320-2882},
url = {https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007}
}
RIS — EndNote, RefWorks
TY - JOUR
AU - Panwar, Purvi
TI - Right to Free Legal Aid in India: A Study of Constitutional, Statutory, and Judicial Developments
T2 - International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts
JA - IJCRT
VL - 14
IS - 1
PY - 2026
SN - 2320-2882
UR - https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007
SP - a39-a48
ER -
Issue
Volume 14 Issue 1,
January-2026
Pages : a39-a48
Article Information
- Pages
- a39-a48
- Published
- January 2026
- Registration ID
- IJCRT_299622
- Published Paper ID
- IJCRT2601007
- Research Area
- Medical Science All
- Author Type
- Indian Author
- Location
- Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, India
- Peer Review
- Request Peer Review Report
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0 · Open Access
- ISSN & Impact Factor
- 2320-2882 · IF 9.17
- Downloads
- 347
- Permanent Link
- https://ijcrt.org/viewpaperforall.php?paper=IJCRT2601007
- Published Paper PDF
- https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2601007.pdf
Summarise this Paper with AI
Opens your assistant with a prepared prompt. AI summaries can be incomplete or wrong — read the full paper before citing it.
Author Services
Certificates, printed copies and official reports for this paper
Published authors can request a hard copy of their certificate or of the printed journal, and obtain the transparent peer review and plagiarism reports for this article — each issued against this paper’s registration record.
Registration ID IJCRT_299622Printed copies
Hard Copy of CertificatePrinted certificate for each author, posted to you.
Hard Copy of JournalA bound printed copy of the issue this paper appears in.
Reports & recognition
Transparent Peer Review Report
The reviewer comments and decisions behind this article.
Turnitin Plagiarism Report
The similarity check run on this manuscript.
Best Paper Nomination
Put this article forward for the issue’s best paper award.
Requests are verified against the registration ID of this article.
About Publisher
International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts
Published by IJCRT Publication
2320-2882
ISSN
9.17
Impact Factor
2013
ESTD Year
Open
Access
Impact Factor 9.17, calculated from Google Scholar citation data — see how it is worked out.
An international scholarly open access journal: peer-reviewed, refereed, multidisciplinary, monthly and multilingual, with Crossref DOI registration, rich metadata and a citation generator. Verified indexing & discovery records.
IJCRT is a Transparent, Peer-Reviewed, Open Access Journal (Refereed Journal). Following the discontinuation of UGC and UGC-CARE journal listing, IJCRT is aligned with UGC’s Suggested Parameters for Choosing Peer-Reviewed Journals. UGC Public Notice
Licence
© 2026 — Authors hold the copyright of this article.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
and The Open Definition.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Disclaimer:
The content, data and findings in this article are based on the authors’ research and have been
peer-reviewed for academic purposes only. Readers are advised to verify all information before practical
or commercial use. The journal and its editorial board are not liable for any errors, losses or
consequences arising from its use.
Declarations
Funding
No external funding was received for this study.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the reviewers and the editorial board of International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts for their careful reading and constructive comments, and all colleagues who supported the preparation of this manuscript.
About the Journal
9.17Impact Factor
UGC AlignedSuggested Parameters
TransparentPeer Review
Open AccessNo Paywall
CrossrefDOI Available
Monthly12 Issues / Year
Since 2013Established
2320-2882ISSN
How Publication Works
1Submit Your PaperOnline or by email. A registration ID is issued straight away.
2Transparent Peer ReviewDouble-blind review by subject experts, reported openly.
3AcceptanceThe result reaches you by email and SMS against your registration ID.
4Published Open AccessFree to read worldwide, with certificate and letter ready to download.
Article Impact
44Views
28Downloads
72Total reads
Jan 2026Published
Published · 283 days ago
Today · last read today
1.9 views and 1.2 downloads per day over 23 days counted.
Counts exclude identified crawler traffic and repeat hits from the same reader within 30 minutes. Downloads reached directly through a search engine or an existing citation link are not included, so the figure is a conservative count of activity through this site. Full statistics
Discovery & Indexing
Find this paper on search engines and scholarly indexes, and check the journal’s verified records.
Find this paperSearch
Google ScholarExact-title search, with citing articles once indexed.Search
CrossrefMetadata search across all Crossref records.Search
Semantic ScholarAI-powered literature search.Search- BASEBASEBielefeld Academic Search Engine — open-access harvester.Search
ResearchGateResearch network publication search.Search
Journal recordsVerified
“Search” opens a live search for this paper; “Verified” opens a journal record checked on the Indexing & Discovery page. Third-party services index at their own discretion, often several weeks after publication.
