ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES IN INDIA: CONSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS AND PRACTICAL BARRIERS

The guarantee of access to justice sits at the moral core of any constitutional democracy, yet for millions
of marginalized Indians Dalits, Adivasis, women, persons with disabilities, linguistic minorities, and the rural
poor that guarantee remains, in practice, unreachable. This article undertakes a comprehensive doctrinal
examination of the constitutional safeguards that enshrine access to justice in the Indian legal order and the
practical barriers that systematically nullify them.
Drawing on the Preamble's commitment to social justice, the Fundamental Rights articulated in Articles
14, 19, 21, 22, and 32, the directive mandate of Article 39-A, and seven decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence,
the article maps the normative architecture of access to justice in India. It then critically assesses the statutory
and institutional mechanisms the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, the Lok Adalat framework, and Public
Interest Litigation against the reality of economic, geographical, linguistic, and systemic barriers that prevent
their effective utilisation. The article further evaluates the judiciary's transformative role through expansive
constitutional interpretation, PIL, suo motu jurisdiction, and protective guidelines, while honestly
acknowledging the limitations of that role.
It concludes with a set of evidence-based legislative, institutional, and policy recommendations aimed
at bridging the enduring gap between constitutional aspiration and lived experience for India's most vulnerable
communities.