SC judges to lead mega legal awareness drive in Arunachal Pradesh
The initiative, led by NALSA and APSLSA, seeks to provide legal aid, rights awareness, and welfare access.
Supreme Court Justice B R Gavai (Photo: @airnewsalerts / X)
Itanagar, March 28: Supreme Court Justices B R Gavai and Ujjal Bhuyan will visit Arunachal Pradesh on March 29 and 30 to participate in a mega legal awareness programme camp-cum-sewa Aapke Dwar. The initiative, organised by the Arunachal Pradesh State Legal Services Authority (APSLSA) under the aegis of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), aims to bridge the legal gap for tribal communities by ensuring access to justice, rights, and welfare benefits.
The two-day legal awareness camp will be held in Dirang, Bomdila, and Tawang in West Kameng District, reaching out to remote tribal populations who often lack direct access to legal resources.
The event will be conducted in collaboration with District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs), the district administration, Gaon Burahs, self-help groups (SHGs), and the District Child Protection Unit, West Kameng.
The programme will focus on empowering tribal communities by disseminating information on key legal provisions, including:
- The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
- The Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulation, 1945
- The Arunachal Pradesh Civil Court Act, 2021
- NALSA’s Protection and Enforcement of Tribal Rights Scheme (2015)
Participants will also receive on-the-spot legal aid, grievance redressal support, and access to welfare benefits, ensuring immediate assistance to those in need.
Justice B R Gavai, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court and the Executive Chairman of NALSA, has been at the forefront of legal outreach initiatives. After a similar programme in Manipur, his visit to Arunachal Pradesh further underscores NALSA’s commitment to legal empowerment at the grassroots level.
As part of their visit, Justices Gavai and Bhuyan will also inspect a jail and a children’s home in Tawang, engaging with vulnerable groups to assess their legal needs. This interaction aims to ensure proper legal aid for inmates and children in need of protection, reinforcing the broader mission of NALSA’s legal aid network.
A statement from NALSA highlighted that over 1.3 lakh tribal individuals benefitted from free legal aid in 2024 alone, demonstrating the impact of such initiatives. According to the 2011 Census, over 68% of Arunachal Pradesh’s population belongs to Scheduled Tribes (STs), underscoring the necessity of targeted legal outreach.
The mega legal awareness programme aligns with NALSA’s mission to uphold the constitutional promise of social, economic, and political justice. By reaching remote tribal communities, this initiative seeks to ensure that legal rights and welfare benefits are not just theoretical concepts but accessible realities for all.
With the concerted efforts of APSLSA, DLSAs, government agencies, and community representatives, this event is set to make a significant impact, fostering legal literacy, empowerment, and justice for Arunachal Pradesh’s indigenous communities.