Govt provides legal aid to 5 lakh destitute in a decade

The government has provided legal aid to 5,07, 040 destitute people of the country without any cost in a decade.

The legal assistance was given since 2009 till February this year through the National Legal Aid and Services Organisation (NLASO) under the law ministry in line with the National Legal Aid Act, 2000. 

The NLASO has collected Tk 35.36 crore as compensation through disposing of 1,26,492 legal aid related cases and gave the money to the victims by this period, a law ministry press release said today.      

The NLASO has provided legal aid to 3,84,823 disadvantaged people through 64 district legal aid offices,  to 20,092 such individuals through the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee, to  83,918  through the national helpline number (16430) and to 18,207 labourers through Dhaka and Chattogram Labour Legal Aid Cells during the same period,  according to the law ministry press release.                 

The law ministry has been running a national helpline (16430) to provide legal aid to poor people, particularly labourers, free of cost, even during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A total of 83,918 people have received legal assistance through the helpline since its launch in 2016, a ministry source said.

The toll-free helpline is being kept open 24/7 for everyone under the instruction from Law Minister Anisul Huq.     

Many helpless people from across the country communicate with NLASO through the helpline every day. The organisation then tries to solve their problems either via district-level offices or instantly over phone, according to the source.