LEGAL AWARENESS / AID
By, Divyanshee Rawat
”
”
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you
have a right to do and what is right to do.
—Potter Stewart
Law & Justice
What is legal awareness ?
•Legal awareness is the promotion of the public’s
knowledge of their rights and obligations according
to the Constitution, enacted laws.
•Legal awareness lies at the base of any effort toward
legal empowerment.
Need of Legal Awareness
•To empowers people to demand justice
•To prevent illegal activities
•To not be intimidated and alienated from law
Importance of Legal Awareness
•Legal awarenesshelps to promote consciousness of
legalculture, participation in the formation of laws
and the rule oflaw.
•Publiclegaleducation, sometimes called civics
education, comprises a range of activities intended
to build publicawarenessand skills related
tolawand the justice system.
Contd..
•Legal awarenesscan empower people to demand
justice, accountability and effective remedies at all
levels.
•Legalneeds always stand to become crisis oriented
because their ignorance prevents them from
anticipating legaltroubles and approaching a lawyer
for consultation and advice in time.
Goal of Legal Awareness
•To guide themselves about process ; legal system
•To understand about having legal rights ;
responsibility
•To take necessary action to avoid legal problems,
and if not possible then help themselves
appropriately or obtain suitable legal assistance
•To perceive that justice has been done
Objective of Legal Awareness
•To raising awareness with community education in
order to Legal Empowerment
•To exposing law students into social justice work
•To strengthening community solidarity and support
grass-roots advocacy
Challenges in Legal Awareness
•In Domain of Law, categories are vast in order to
exchange legal information
•Common understanding of law beyond language is
highly desirable
•Requirement is hard to meet, due to the variety of
languages and modes in which the legal discourse is
expressed
Methods to promote Legal Awareness
•Can achieved through camps, lectures, and interactive
workshops or crash programs on the essential and
elementary legal laws
•More methods can be like road shows, radio talks, street and
theatre plays to get more attention toward legal awareness
•Other methods to ensure publicity for various legal
mobilisation activities are like -publication of relevant books,
periodicals, posters, charts that deal with particular laws, the
distribution of pamphlets, brochures, and stickers, the
display of paintings, etc.
Result we can have with Legal Awareness
•The absence of a legal culture and the resulting
illiteracy are the main reasons for the large number
of cases in the courts
•If the accused citizen knows that an act is a crime
punishable by law, they may not do it
Important Legal Acts under Legal Awareness
•Information Technology ACT, 2000
•Cyber Law
•Consumer Protection ACT, 1986
•Right To Information ACT, 2005 (RTI ACT)
•Copyright ACT
Information Technology ACT, 2000
•IT Act of the Indian Parliament notified on October
17, 2000
•Information technology Act 2000 consisted of 94
sections segregated into 13 chapters
IT ACT 2000 –Deals With
•Legal Recognition of Electronic Documents
•Legal Recognition of Digital Signatures
•Offenses and Contraventions
•Justice Dispensation Systems for cyber crimes
IT ACT 2000 -Not Applicable To
•Negotiable instrument other than a cheque
•A trust
•Any contract for the sale or conveyance of
immovable property
•Any such class of documents or transactions as may
be notified by the Central Government
IT ACT 2000 –After Amendments
After amendments in 2008 it named as Information
Technology Amendment Act 2008.
Some of the notable features of the ITAA
•Focusing on data privacy
•Focusing on Information Security
•Making digital signature technology neutral
•Inclusion of some additional cyber crimes like cyber
terrorism
Cyber Law
Cyber crime is unlawful acts wherein the computer is either
a tool or a target or both.
Some Activities under cyber crime:
•Hacking
•Cyber Terrorism
•Credit card frauds
•Email spoofing
•Sending malicious codes through email
Cyber Law –Cases Against Cyber Crime
•Delhi student arrested for creating fake FB profile of
Commissioner. (The Indian Express)
•EIILM University VC, Chairman, Registrar arrested
for forgery, criminal conspiracy
(Indiaeducationreview.com)
•Engineering student arrested for cyber harassment
(NDTV)
Consumer Protection ACT, 1986
•Enacted to provide for the better protection of the
interest of consumer.
•Act applies to whole of India except Jammu and
Kashmir.
•Chapter I, II and IV came into force on 15.4.1987.
Chapter III came into force on 1.7.1987
•The act was amended in 2002 and the amendments
came into force w.e.f. 15th March 2003.
CPA 1986 –Salient Features of the Act
•The Act aims to provide better and all-round
protection to consumers
•Geographically applicable to whole India except
Jammu ; Kashmir
•It applies to all goods and services
•It provides effective safeguards to the consumers
against different types of exploitation such as
defective goods, unsatisfactory services.
CPA 1986 –What is a Complaint ?
“Complaint” means any allegation in writing made by a
complainant that :
•An unfair trade practice or a restrictive trade practice
has been adopted by any trader or service provider.
•The goods bought by consumer or agreed to be bought
by him suffer from one or more defects.
•The services hired or agreed to be hired by him suffer
from deficiency in any respect.
Contd…
•A trader has charged for the goods mentioned in the
complaint a price in excess of the price-
i.Fixed by or under any law for the time being in force;
ii.Displayed on the goods or any package containing such
goods;
iii.Displayed on the price list exhibited by trader;
iv.Agreed between the parties.
CPA 1986 –Who is a Consumer ?
•Any person who buys goods or avails services for
consideration
•Consideration may be fully paid, partially paid or
fully promised to be paid or partially promised to be
paid
•But does not include a person who obtains such
goods for resale or for any commercial purpose.
CPA 1986 –Consumer Rights
Eight rights :-
•Right to basic needs
Food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, water and sanitation
•Right to safety
•Right to information
•Right to choice
•Right to be heard
•Right to redress
•Right to education
•Right to healthy environment
CPA 1986 –What is a Defect / Deficiency?
Need to IdentifyIn the Order
FaultQuality
ImperfectionQuantity
ShortcomingPotency
InadequacyPurity
Standards
CPA 1986 –Cases Against Consumer Act
Consumer court fines cola firm (Apr 30, 2013), TOI
•AHMEDABAD: A consumer court in the city has fined PepsiCo Holding
India Pvt Ltd with Rs 20,000 after its soft drink was found
contaminated.
•The multi-national giant has been asked to deposit the amount with
the State Consumer Welfare Fund.
•consumer court concluded that it was unfair trade practice and
deficiency in service
•It asked the company to deposit Rs 20,000 with the state fund as
penalty and Rs 3,000 to the complainant towards mental harassment.
Right To Information ACT, 2005 (RTI ACT)
•Passed by parliament of India on 15th June 2005 and
came fully into force on 12th Oct. 2005.
•The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of
India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
•Information disclosure in India was restricted by the
Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws,
which the new RTI Act relaxes.
•Under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances ;
Pensions
RTI ACT, 2005 –Need of ACT
Information is a key to
•Democratic process and good governance.
•Poverty eradication and human development.
•Realization of human rights.
RTI ACT, 2005 –Objective of ACT
•Empower the citizens, promote transparency and
accountability in the working of the Government,
make our democracy work for the people in real
sense.
•Making the citizens informed about the activities of
the Government.
•Minimize corruption and inefficiency in public
offices.
RTI ACT, 2005 –Cases Against RTI ACT
COALGATE SCAM MISSING FILES WITH CBI:TOI
•In a Right to Information (RTI) Act reply early this year, the
coal ministry had said that the files relating to all coal
block allocations from 1994-2012 were with the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
•The ministry’s reply to the RTI query filed by NGO
Greenpeace in February is important as the government
has been saying that some of the files before 2004 went
missing.
COPYRIGHT ACT
Copyright is a right given by the law to creators of
literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and
producers of cinematograph films and sound
recordings.
Copyright ACT –Need of ACT
•Economic rights of the author/ artist, and
•Moral Rights of the author/ artist
•Promote creativity.
Copyright ACT –Scope of Protection in the ACT
The Copyright Act, 1957 protects original literary,
dramatic, musical and artistic works and
cinematograph films and sound recordings from
unauthorized uses.
You can not store, reproduce, distribute, translate any
copyrighted work by any means.
Copyright ACT –Fair Deal / Fair Use
•For the purpose of research or private study,
•For criticism or review,
•For reporting current events,
•In connection with judicial proceeding,
•Performance by an amateur club or society if the
performance is given to a non-paying audience, and
•The making of sound recordings of literary, dramatic or
musical works under certain conditions.
Conclusion
•Country has prescribed Rights and Duties for its Citizen. The
Citizen need to be aware about their Rights, the related legal
provisions and processes.
•The Lack of legal awareness is not, unfortunately, confined to
illiterates
Case Study –Women got Justice Through
Legal Awareness Center
Thank You for your valuable time.
