Legal awareness is described as the legal consciousness that empowers individuals regarding issues involving the law. It helps the individuals to be conscious about the legal culture, participation in the formation of laws, and the rule of law. Besides, legal awareness is the key fighter against exploitation. Knowledge of laws and legal remedies enables a person to stand for herself / himself and fight against injustice in society. Unfortunately, the individual citizens in Nagaland are generally unfamiliar with the statutory provisions of law. Non-awareness among the citizens not only result in denial of their fundamental rights but also due to the legal incomprehensiveness on their part, they are not able to avail the benefits of the government welfare schemes and plans.
The Mokokchung District Legal Services Authority had a formal awareness talk with Mokokchung Press Club on Lok Adalat and the Nagaland Victim Compensation Scheme 2012 on Thursday. While the talk was exclusively based on the two topics, the proceedings of the talk revealed that there is a need for more such talks on various other legal statutes and provisions. It was also felt that more talks on legal issues need to be held with civil society organizations and citizens. It can be surmised that the importance of legal awareness or legal consciousness among the citizens is of paramount importance. It is also expected of legal practitioners to go the extra mile in educating the masses through various mediums about the importance of legal awareness to start with.
We often face instances where we are made to ‘demand justice’ but when the citizens are not aware of their rights furnished by law, and when there is no legal activism, such demands often end up dying a slow death and the ‘injustice’ remains unchallenged. Likewise, access to justice is guaranteed by law to all citizens but it cannot be facilitated at the maximum reach without legal consciousness. There are also remedies guaranteed by the law; however, without legal awareness, people at large are not motivated to protest against injustice because they are not aware of the various machinery/organs of the justice delivery system available for redressal of their grievances.
According to P. Sathasivam, the Ex-Chief Justice of India, “Our entire judicial setup functions on the presumptions that all people are aware of their rights and can approach the concerned institution.” Sadly, the majority of the citizens are unaware of the legal structures as well as their rights. Moreover, even if the people are conscious of it, they are unable to access it often because of their economic and social disadvantages. Here also, for instance, most citizens are unaware of Article 39A of the constitution that provides for equal justice and free legal aid.
The point here is that when a citizen is conscious of his rights and has a basic understanding of the law, he can easily ask a lawyer for counsel and consultation at any moment, thereby confronting or preventing a problem as it arises. In other words, rule of law prevails.