Dhaka: The government has extended free legal advice to 491,575 justice seekers through the National Legal Aid Services Organisation (NLASO) from 2009 to June 2025.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the statutory organisation under the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, has confirmed the figures through its monthly update on its website.
The report indicates that 254,860 people received legal advice from the NLASO's legal aid offices across 64 districts. Additionally, a total of 189,051 individuals sought legal assistance by calling the national toll-free helpline number 16430, while 26,032 people benefited from services provided by the Supreme Court Legal Aid Office.
Moreover, 21,632 people obtained free legal advice from two labour law aid cells located in Dhaka and Chattogram. The NLASO has also successfully realised Taka 271,76,38,563 as compensation for insolvent justice seekers. Of this amount, Taka 265,13,12,348 was secured through district legal aid offices, while Taka 6,63,26,215 came from the labour law aid cells in Dhaka and Chattogram.
Legal aid was administered in 431,102 cases, with 423,364 cases handled by district legal aid offices, 4,453 cases by labour law aid cells in Dhaka and Chattogram, and 3,285 cases by the Supreme Court Legal Aid Office. In total, 220,522 cases were concluded with the aid of NLASO, with 217,422 disposed of by district legal aid offices and 2,286 through the Supreme Court Legal Aid Office.
Since 2009, 128,764 inmates have benefited from free legal aid services provided by the NLASO, all facilitated by district legal aid offices nationwide. Furthermore, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) initiatives were undertaken in 171,638 cases, with 168,338 initiated from the 64 district legal aid offices.
Overall, 1,240,389 beneficiaries have accessed legal aid since the inception of the National Legal Aid Services Organisation (NLASO), with 992,636 of them served by district legal aid offices.