Govt provided free legal aid to 5 lakh people in 10 years

The government has provided legal aid to 5,07,040 poor and helpless people of the country free of cost in the last 10 years, reported law ministry yesterday, on the eve of National Legal Aid Services Day.

The assistance was provided since 2009 till February this year through National Legal Aid and Services Organisation (NLASO) under the law ministry.

NLASO has collected Tk 35.36 crore as compensation by settling 1,26,492 legal aid related cases and rewarded the money to victims, said a ministry press release yesterday.

NLASO has provided legal aid to 3,84,823 disadvantaged people through 64 district offices, 20,092 through Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee, and 18,207 labourers through Dhaka and Chattogram labour legal aid cells during the period.

Meanwhile, the law ministry has been running the national helpline 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 open 24/7 under instruction from Law Minister Anisul Huq.

Since 2013, the ministry is observing National Legal Aid Services Day every year.