Justice Beyond Courtrooms: A Call to Reach the Margins
In a forceful speech at the NALSA East-Zone Regional Conference in Sonapur, Guwahati, Supreme Court judge and Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Justice Surya Kant urged that the justice system should travel beyond the doors of courtrooms and actively reach those living on the margins. He framed the moment as far more than a ceremonial inauguration—it’s a reaffirmation that justice must travel where it has historically moved slowly, across the valleys, tea gardens, and borderlands of India’s East.
Paradox of Abundance and Vulnerability
Justice Kant highlighted a critical paradox: the eastern region contributes richly to India’s economy and culture—from Assam’s renowned tea industry and Odisha’s coastline to Bengal’s intellectual traditions and Jharkhand’s mineral wealth—yet several states face poverty, inequality, and limited access to justice. He argued that true progress should be measured not by GDP or statistics alone, but by whether justice, dignity, and opportunity reach every community equitably.
Addressing Pressing Social Challenges
The judge catalogued urgent regional issues, including child marriage, drug abuse, displacement of tribal communities, the plight of tea garden workers, and a rising mental health crisis. He cited stark data—Bihar’s persistence in early marriages (nearly 40% of women) and Assam’s six-fold rise in narcotics-related cases over four years—treating these as interconnected chapters of structural vulnerability rather than isolated problems.
From Law in Books to Law in Life
Describing NALSA’s role as a “bridge between law and life,” Justice Kant outlined concrete initiatives designed to translate legal rights into everyday realities. He spotlighted programs such as DAWN (Drug Awareness and Wellness Navigation) for prevention and rehabilitation, ASHA to combat child marriage through education and vocational training, SAMVAD to provide legal access for tribal and denotified communities, and the Legal Services to Workers in the Unorganised Sector to safeguard fair wages and dignity at work.
New Schemes and Shared Responsibility
Announcing the NALSA Veer Parivar Sahayata Yojana 2025, which offers free legal aid to families of defense personnel serving in difficult border terrains, Justice Kant framed these schemes within an “architecture of care” inspired by Ubuntu—the philosophy that “I am, because you are”—and India’s ideal of Manav Seva Hi Madhav Seva (service to humanity is service to God). He stressed that the conference’s success would be measured not by speeches or resolutions but by tangible outcomes: saving a girl from an early marriage in Bihar, steering a young person away from addiction in Nagaland, securing forest rights for a tribal family in Odisha, or ensuring a tea worker’s children receive education and nutrition in Assam.
Technology, Coordination, and Listening
Justice Kant called for stronger inter-agency coordination and the judicious use of technology to extend legal aid to remote areas, while cautioning that technology must be a bridge, not a substitute for genuine human access to justice. He emphasized the moral imperative to listen—first to children, workers, and marginalized communities, then to translate their sentiments into policy and practice.
Frontiers of India’s Justice
Concluding remarks framed the eastern states not as mere geographical frontiers but as frontiers of India’s justice. Quoting Srimanta Sankardev—“Manuhor maromat Ishwar thake” (God resides in human compassion)—he urged that legal services institutions be temples of compassion where law meets lived experience. The two-day conference, organized with the Assam State Legal Services Authority and the Gauhati High Court, will address issues such as child rights, narcotics, tribal protections, labor welfare, and mental health, with the ultimate aim of making justice truly accessible to all.
