Legal Aid & Justice Access Project (CLES)
Looking Ahead
USIPI remains committed to scaling community-based legal empowerment and driving structural reform. In 2026, the initiative plans to extend targeted legal aid and representation to at least 48 additional incarcerated individuals, drawing on insights from CLES's growing case database. Through evidence-backed advocacy, CLES and its partners are working to build a legal system that is more equitable, accessible, and accountable - especially for India’s most vulnerable citizens.
Identifying the Problem
India’s marginalized communities—particularly Muslims, Dalits, and Adivasis—face disproportionate challenges in accessing timely and effective justice. From prolonged pre-trial detention and inadequate legal aid to systemic discrimination and poor representation, structural barriers often deepen existing social inequities. Many remain in prolonged pre-trial detention, lack access to qualified counsel, and contend with bureaucratic inefficiencies. Under-resourced and often opaque, legal institutions become barriers rather than pathways to justice for those who need them most. Legal institutions remain under-resourced, opaque, and intimidating for the very people most in need of protection.
USIPI’s strategic intervention
Partnering with the Centre for Law, Economics and Society (CLES) and CDPP, USIPI leads a multi-year initiative grounded in evidence-based legal reform.
Core activities include:
Mapping areas of acute legal aid need across select states
Using data to analyze prison conditions, court backlogs, and counsel access
Conducting field studies to uncover systemic exclusion in the criminal justice system
Providing direct litigation support and facilitating pro bono legal services
Engaging with policymakers and institutions to build accountability and reform
Impact to date
Over 15 case studies profiling both individual and systemic injustices
Piloted a litigation support model enhancing bail access and early representation
Mapped judicial delays, backlog patterns, and incarceration trends in key regions
Data-driven insights are guiding efforts in legal clinics and community-led paralegal strategies
In June 2025, CLES published findings revealing critical deficiencies in India’s undertrial system: overuse of preventive detention, legal illiteracy among detainees, and systemic delays in representation. The report may be accessed here.