“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.[1] [1]