BENGALURU: Supreme Court Judge Justice B.V. Nagarathna has called for an immediate and structured legal-aid mechanism to ensure women receive assistance without delay following incidents requiring legal intervention.
Speaking at the two-day South Zone Regional Conference on “Justice for Women”, organised by the National Commission for Women in association with the High Court of Karnataka and the Karnataka Judicial Academy, Justice Nagarathna stressed the need for better coordination among State Legal Services Authorities, police stations, primary health centres and government hospitals.
She said women should be able to access legal assistance immediately, wherever they seek help. She also called for paralegal volunteers to be made available at short notice to support women in need.
Justice Nagarathna, who is Chairperson of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, cited National Legal Services Authority data showing that 4,14,795 women received legal aid between April 2025 and March 2026.
However, she emphasised that the success of legal-aid programmes should not be measured merely by the number of beneficiaries. The real measure, she said, should be whether the assistance delivers meaningful outcomes and justice.
Justice Nagarathna also raised concerns over recent amendments to Karnataka laws, saying they have significantly curtailed the jurisdiction of the High Court in hearing regular first appeals.
Referring to the Karnataka Civil Courts Amendment Act, 2023 and the Karnataka High Court Amendment Act, 2023, she said the amendments had “denuded” the High Court of its jurisdiction over regular first appeals.
Her remarks brought renewed focus on both faster access to legal aid for women and the need to preserve effective appellate jurisdiction of the High Court.
