The Impact of legal aid on legal Empowerment and Human Rights Protection in India

The nexus of the fundamentals of legal aid, legal empowerment, and the promotion of human rights is a vast area of research that evaluates people's experiences and aims to give freedom to those who have been treated unjustly.3 Legal empowerment techniques are increasingly considered a key instrument to combat inequalities in society, exclusion, and human rights violations. Legal empowerment interventions, encompassed by legal literacy and community paralegals, are highly effective in increasing individuals' agency and legal knowledge. They, in turn, allow their access to justice and, in the end, result in positive outcomes such as obtaining legal remedies and the consequent efficient conflict solutions. 4 Legal protection could come with the addition of legal aid which improves the court system's knowledge by judges. Although this does not ensure the trust in judicial institutions and the realisation of one's rights. 5 In fragile and post-conflict contexts, as well as in the situations of displacement for prolonged periods, legal empowerment provides the aide for the agencies of justice, builds up the accountability of authorities, and contributes to the durable solutions for the displaced people. 6 It is a fact that free legal aid is a part of human rights essential for preserving equal access to justice in the guarantees of human rights. There is no doubt that free legal aid will play an important role in the state-obligations to uphold human rights.7 The independence of the judiciary and the availability of effective legal institutions are two key aspects of protecting human rights, even when the wealth6 suffers the existence of extralegal variables.8 Through legal empowerment projects people may gain knowledge of their rights, become financially independent and get rid of all forms of oppression, including women who are the ones, who have the biggest share in societies prosperity. 9 By uniting the legal empowerment with the social accountability strategies both is efficiently used to struggle for redress and fight against the injustices associated with providing basic services, therefore illustrating a collaborative framework or approach to community and institution involvement. 10 Thus, these elements of legal assistance and empowerment are certainly fundamental for strengthening human rights protection and access to justice , especially for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of society. These approaches not only give representatives equal footing to navigate the legal system but also apply to societal transformation issues and improve accountability. 11 The effect legal help has is that it brings more people in the system and ensures that more court proceedings have procedural justice, but more trust is needed in judicial institutions. Nevertheless, legal empowerment will lead to more intense and effective results as a standing mechanism with accountability.