As per Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, the following categories of persons are eligible for free legal aid:
- a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe;
- a victim of trafficking in human beings or begar as referred to in Article 23 of the Constitution;
- a woman or a child;
- a person with disability as defined in clause (i) of section2 of the Persons With Disabilities
(Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (1 of 1996); - a person under circumstances of underserved want such as being a victim of a mass disaster,
ethnic, violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disaster; or - an industrial workman; or
- in custody, including custody in a protective home within the meaning of clause (g) of
section2 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (104 of 1956), or in a juvenile home within
the meaning of clause (j) of section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 (53 of 1986), or in a
psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home within the meaning of clause (g) of Section 2 of the
Mental Health Act, 1987 (14 of 1987); or - in receipt of annual income less than rupees Three Lakhs or such other higher amount as
may be prescribed by the State Government, if the case is before a court other than the Supreme
Court, and less than rupees Five Lakhs or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the
Central Government, if the case is before the Supreme Court.]