Providing free legal services to the poor and those who cannot afford an attorney’s services to undertake a case or legal action in a court, tribunal, or before a judicial authority is known as legal aid.

In essence, the preamble of the Indian Constitution aims to provide socioeconomic and political justice to the people of India. Legal assistance, as His Lordship Justice P.N. Bhagwati succinctly put it, is a system in society that makes the machinery of administration of justice conveniently accessible and within reach of those who need to use it to enforce the rights that the law has granted to them. According to Article 38(1), the State must uphold and defend the social order, including justice, to further the welfare of the populace. Everyone has an equal right to life and liberty, barring circumstances specified by law, according to Article 21 of the Constitution.

In order to ensure that no citizen is denied the opportunity to pursue justice due to financial or other limitations, the State must ensure that the functioning of the legal system promotes justice based on equal opportunity. In particular, the State must provide free legal aid through appropriate legislation or programmes or in any other manner.

In the case of Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar, it was decided that any accused person has a right to free legal help at the state’s expense if he is unable to pay for legal representation.