New Delhi: Every accused should be mandatorily provided with a legal counsel if the person is unable to hire them due to financial problems, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and D K Jain asked courts to ensure compliance of Section 304 CrPC which mandates that an accused should be provided with an advocate at government expense if such a person is unable to engage a counsel due to financial problems. Under Section 304, it is the duty of the courts to ensure that every accused is provided the option of hiring an advocate for which the expenses are to be borne by the government.

The apex court passed the direction while acquitting an accused Dilwar Singh charged with committing a dacoity at Kali Mata Ka Mandir in Taharapur village in Shahdara in Delhi. Singh was not represented by his counsel in the trial court which convicted him to seven years imprisonment for the alleged dacoity. The apex court noted that besides being unrepresented by an advocate, there were no adequate material evidence to establish the charge that Singh had committed the dacoity and hence passed the order of acquittal.

According to the apex court there was considerable delay in the filing of the complaint which was lodged on August 31,1984, though the incident is alleged to have taken place on August 8.