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Brijesh Kumar v. The State of Uttar Pradesh

Special Leave Petition (Criminal) · 2021 INSC 197Decided 22 Mar 2021
Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 773 of 2020
Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar · Justice Ajay Rastogi

Background

Brijesh Kumar, described as a habitual offender involved in robbery and murder cases, had been convicted by the Trial Court, and the conviction was upheld by the High Court. He filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court, represented by a court-appointed amicus curiae lawyer. During the hearing, the amicus curiae told the Court that he had been given only the trial court and High Court judgments to work with, not the full case record, which he said was common practice in legal-aid appointments.

Decision Breakdown

On the merits, the Supreme Court found no ground to interfere with the concurrent findings of the Trial Court and High Court, which had meticulously examined the evidence, and dismissed the petition. However, the Court used the occasion to address a broader systemic problem: legal aid lawyers and amicus curiae appointed under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 were frequently being handed only the final judgments rather than the complete case file, undermining the constitutional right under Article 21 to effective (not merely nominal) legal representation. The Court directed the National Legal Services Authority and all State/High Court/Taluk Legal Services Committees to ensure that appointed legal aid counsel and amicus curiae are given the full record of a case, pleadings, affidavits, FIRs, charge sheets, witness statements, trial transcripts and exhibits, with official translations where needed, with immediate effect.

Lesson Learnt

The constitutional right to legal aid is not satisfied merely by appointing a lawyer for an unrepresented accused; it requires giving that lawyer the complete case record so the representation is actually effective, and the Supreme Court can issue systemic directions to legal aid bodies even while dismissing the individual case before it.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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