Prisoners' Legal Aid

Access to justice for all has been a goal of CeLRRd from its inception. An integral part of access to justice is legal aid for those who cannot normally afford it. The Prisoners’ Legal Aid project specifically and directly addresses this issue by providing competent lawyers and paralegals to those prisoners who are indigents. Though the new Constitution of Nepal guarantees the right to fair trial and legal aid to an indigent party, in actuality this right is often not realized. Therefore, a tangible result-oriented intervention was felt by CeLRRd and it promptly acted accordingly to provide legal aid to the prisoners since March 1999 that in retrospection created a milestone in the field of Criminal Justice System of Nepal. The ultimate goal of the free legal aid is to foster the human rights in the context of Criminal Justice. CeLRRd is a pioneer in legal aid in Nepal and has been continuously providing legal aid since 1999 in various supports like DIHR, Embassy of Denmark and DanidaHUGOU.
2009/2010, PLA has been extended to 26 districts: Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Udatpur, Saptari, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Dhanusa, Sarlahi, Mahottarai, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Rupandehi, Kapilbastu, Palpa, Nawalparasi, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Surkhet and Dang. Hetauda, Butwal, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar regional and Kathmandu mid centers oversee PLA activities in the afore-mentioned districts.

Major Activities

1. Feasibility study in 15 prisons Jhapa, Udaypur, Saptari, Makawanpur, Rautahat, Mahottarai, Nakhhau,Rupandehi, Palpa,Banke, Bardiya, kailali, Kanchanpur, Surkhet, Dang.
2. Case representation target for 2009-2010 is 1350 first year and 5000 in five years
3. Training on legal aid (fair trial) in 4 regions to 100 lawyers
4. 3 days Advance PLA training to 27 lawyers
5. Development of data base software
6. Development of Paralegal Manual for training to Paralegal Staffs
7. Coordination meeting with various stake holders like district judges, bar president district attorneys, district police, legal professionals, jailors and similar others.