The sections of the society as enlisted under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 entitled for free legal services are:

1. A member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe
2. A victim of trafficking in human beings or beggar as referred to in Article 23 of the Constitution of India.
3. A woman or a child
4. A mentally ill or otherwise disabled person
5. A person under circumstances of undeserved want such as being a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disaster
6. An industrial workman/workwoman
7. Person in custody
8. a person in receipt of annual income less than 3 lakh per annum, if the case is before a Court other than the Supreme Court, and less than Rs 5 Lakh, if the case is before the Supreme Court.

Here are some of the rights a civilian should be aware of:

• If a Police Officer refuses to lodge First Information Report then they could be prisoned for 6 months to 1 year.
• If their gas cylinder blasts during the cooking of food then the gas agency is liable to pay Rs. 50 lakh to the victim as compensation. To claim this compensation consumers need to lodge an FIR to the nearest police station and submit it to the concerned gas agency.
• No any woman can be arrested after 6:00 pm to 6:00 am. In case of only dire necessity, only a female police can in special circumstances arrest a female between 6 pm to 6 am and can be detained only in a Police Station which is an All Women one.
• One can approach to any high (including 5 & 7 star) or low star rated hotel for drinking water and to use their loo/washroom.
• At the time of driving if the 100ml. blood contains more than 30mg. of alcohol then the police can arrest anyone without a warrant.
• Snatching the key from any two-wheeler or four-wheeler vehicle by the traffic personnel is illegal. One can launch legal proceedings against these types of misbehaviour.
• Every person must be told the grounds for the arrest at the time.
• The police must inform and allow the accused to immediately inform family or friends about the arrest and the place of detention. And allow the accused to consult a lawyer immediately.
• To adopt a child there should be an age gap of 21 years between the adopter and the child.
• It is legal for unmarried couples to stay-in hotels with true identification but the age of couple should be more than 18 years.
• If any organisation is not giving salary to its employees, then the employees vested with the right to file the FIR against the organisation within the next 3 years.
• MRP stands for Maximum Retail Price and the shopkeeper cannot trade anything beyond the mentioned price on any manufactured goods. Also the customers are vested with the right to bargain for less than the printed price of a commodity.
• One cannot fined twice a day for the same reason.
• Male constable doesn’t have the right to arrest women. Only after the written order from the magistrate, a male policeman can arrest a woman.
• No company can fire a pregnant woman. It may be punishable by a maximum of 3 years of imprisonment.