This paper looks into the justice-seeking behaviour of people in different formal and informal institutions. It also explores the reasons for such justice-seeking behaviour of them. Considering the legal aid program of BRAC as a benchmark the advantages and disadvantages of all the justice providing institutions were analyzed. The report found that the type of justice provided by the institutions and people’s access to these and different socio-political factors motivate the justice seeker to change the routes of those institutions to get justice. From the different landscapes of justice dispensing institutions, the report concluded that the justice-seeker may get better justice from NGO, such as LAP if it improves accessibility and credibility in comparison to existing institutions. However, traditional shalish provides a better and cost-effective justice to the poor and this system does not have any limitations itself. The LAP may work with traditional shalish directly as a mediator and monitor together with village elites so that the victim may get the justice he or she expected, which may be much more relevant with the social and cultural context rather than creating an alternative system and might raise conflicts with the existing justice system in the community. In short- the traditional justice institutions, compared to others, can mitigate the needs of the villagers if it is supervised and monitored by NGO i.e., the legal aid program together with village elites.
Authors: Alim, Md Abdul; Ali, Tariq Omar
Type: Report
Year: 2007
