The main legal point established is that denial of legal aid to prisoners can lead to unjustified incarceration and delayed legal recourse, emphasizing the need for effective legal aid programs for prisoners.

JUDGMENT :

AJAY BHANOT, J.

1. The judgement is being structured in the following conceptual framework to facilitate the discussion:

I. Introduction

1. Shri Nanhe Lal Tripathi, learned counsel assisted by Shri Satish Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the applicant predicates his submissions on merits by contending that the applicant's inability to access legal aid raises legal and constitutional issues which directly affect the right of bail and the personal liberty of the applicant. Members of the Bar also submit that this problem is faced by many prisoners. The issue regarding the scope and right of legal aid to prisoners arises in the circumstances of this case, but also transcends the facts of this case.

2. While discharging judicial functions in bail determination this Court is not denuded of its status as a constitutional court. The court is under a constitutional obligation to address various legal and constitutional issues which impact the grant of bail if they arise in the facts of a case. Forgotten humanity in jails has been brought in full glare of the judicial process. In these facts and circumstances the court cannot abdicate its constitutional role, and turn a blind eye to their suffering.

II. Submissions of learned counsels

3. Shri Nanhe Lal Tripathi, learned counsel assisted by Shri Satish Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the applicant makes the following submissions:

A. The applicant belongs to a economically deprived class of citizenry, who was abandoned by his near and dear ones after his imprisonment. He has no effective pairokar to conduct his case.

B. The applicant did not have access to legal aid to file his bail applications in a timely manner before the trial court as well as this Court.

C. Denial of legal aid delayed recourse to the legal remedy of bail, and caused unjustified incarceration.

D. Right of the applicant to legal aid is a fundamental right and is also a statutory right vested in him by the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

4. Learned members of the Bar also made submissions on the issue of legal aid and pointed out various other instances where under trials in cases of heinous crimes could not approach the courts for consideration of bail applications in a timely manner due to lack of legal aid. Shri Rishi Chaddha, learned A.G.A. and Shri Paritosh Kumar Malviya, learned A.G.A. have assisted the Court on behalf of the State.

Learned counsels at the Bar have called attention to the statutory provisions of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, rulings of constitutional courts and the jail manual, which will be discussed in the narrative.

III. Prisoners' Rights

“Prison and the authorities conspire to rob each man of his dignity”[ Nelson Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom].

5. Stephen William Hawking in his book “The Grand Design” relates an incident where keeping fish in bowls was banned in Italy. The sponsor of the measure demonstrated that fish in spherical bowls develop a distorted vision with passage of time. Prison conditions which are not under constitutional watch will degrade human life and distort human vision.

6. India's long freedom struggle seared the experience of oppressive prison regimes and steeled the resolve to improve prison conditions.

7. Constitutional courts have fortified certain inviolable fundamental rights of prisoners. The discussion will profit by referencing some authorities. While examining conditions of jailed prisoners, the Supreme Court in Sunil Batra v. Delhi