Lawyers For Rights

Poor People must benefit from the Right to Information Act: Arvind Kejriwal

2008-01-21T11:01:00.000+05:30

The Lawyers For Rights successfully organized the workshop on Right to Information Act, 2005 at Guwahati on 22/12/2007 in association with Action Aid India. Nearly 100 (hundred) participants from all over the state attended the workshop in which one of the renowned social activist of the country Shri Aravind Kejriwal was present as a resource person. The workshop was innugaurated by the Chief Information Commissioner of Assam Sri Ranjit Shekhar Mushahary, Sri J. P. Rajkhowa presided over the inaugural meeting.

Mr. Kejriwal dealt on various aspect of the Act in the meet, which witnessed active participation from participants. Some of the participants narrated their experiences in using R.T.I. Another alarming aspect emerged from the deliberation is that activists who seek information is being targeted and attacked by the vested interest groups. Such incidents raise doubt about the effective implementation of the R.T.I. Act.

Lawyers and Social Activist who have participated extremely appreciated Arvind Kejriwal lectures on Right to Information. The response that people pat on us at the post program is like they’ll always cherished the inspiring talk of Arvind.

While speaking at the meet, Kejriwal said that “Awareness about this all powerful tool is gaining ground in Assam, but it still has a long way to go to the hands of the people before they get the maximum benefit out it". He requested the Sate Information Commission to provide more funds for the body responsible for generating awareness about the RTI. In all its effort RTI should be taken to the masses, and especially the poorer numbers, whose ignorance about their rights and entitlement, leads them to innumerable obstacles from various quarters of the society.

He also suggested if Assam could follow the Bihar example on RTI phone line, where poor people can just phone up the officials or PIO’s /APIO’s of the department for information. This first call dialed by the requester for information would be consider as the application. And if the information is not received after 30 days period of the call, then the second call as dialed by the requester after this regulated period would be the first appealed for seeking the information. After this period it goes on and on till the second appeal and thereafter.

In one of its response to the queries by the participants on whether information could be access from the private companies, he said all information even from such private parties could be obtained indirectly. Such as to get information from the Air Tel which is a private body the information could be requested from the statutory bodies like Telecom Regulatory Authority of India known as TRAI (in short). Similarly the information from the private school could be access if such school has received benefits like land or in kind of any forms. The private school should also provide information if there are state laws while regulating such school power and functions.

Former Assam State Chief Secretary lamented that RTI awareness is not up to the desired level in the state. He said NGO’s should pitch in with their support to raise awareness about this all powerful tool in the hands of the masses so that corruption is done away with and a transparent government comes in to being. R.S Mooshahary,IPS (retd) in his inaugural speech lauded the state of Assam for disposing off the RTI cases within the stipulated time of three months, where as the other states takes longer duration. In part of his speech, he said corruption is the biggest terrorism prevailing in the society.

The L.F.R. remains thankful to all those who help us successfully organized the workshop and remains specially thankful to Sri Partha Gogoi for help provided by him at his friends.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

PIL at Guwahati High Court for Adivasis

2007-12-09T23:56:00.000+05:30

The Background:
More than 11 years have elapsed since 1996 when the ethnic conflict between the Bodos and Adivasi in Kokrajhar and Chirang district of Bodoland Territorial Council, Assam forced hundreds of Adivasi families to be uprooted from their homes.

They are still languishing in the displaced camps in most un-imaginable living conditions. And now they are being tried to be uprooted from these camps even!

Status of Government Rehabilitation:
Successive state authorities have failed to rehabilitate the victims properly.

Presently, what the state machinery is offering them in the name of rehabilitation package is a sum of Rs 10,000.00 and once the victims receives this payment; they are forced out from the camps.

Now, even if these displaced victims wishes to accept what is being granted by the state machinery (i.e. the sum of Rs 10,000.00), they can not receive it as for receiving it he/she needs to produce the residency documents. How can a person who had to run for lives could ever carry such documents when they were uprooted in during the ethnic violence?

If this criteria of granting rehabilitation package is the only basis then this family victims would be in the camps for years together as they will not be able to produce these certificates.

How is the living conditions in the relief camps?
Presently the inmates of the camps are given 10 kgs of ration per month for a family. No Public Distribution System or Anganwadi centers exists nearby.

According to Public Distribution system of Govt. of India every poor household should get monthly ration of 35 kgs. But non-existence of PDS centers have deprived these people from their legitimate rights.

According to Indian Supreme Court Interim orders every habitation should have ICDS centers . Such orders by the highest court of the country have not been complied by the state even in this worst and deprived condition of human lives in the displaced camps.

Apart from these neglect and deprivations there is no proper health and educational facilities. The rate of school drop out is increasing everyday. There is a report of child trafficking where even the newly borne child once has been brought back only to be kept near the camps.

Diseases right from malaria is all rampant as surveyed by MSF (Medicine Sans Frontiers an international NGO).

The inmates of the displaced camps are ready to work any petty jobs in order to survive themselves. As a result of such labor availability the local residents are engaging them even to the extent of exploiting the minimum wages.

Worst is being evicted from hell even!
Worst of the worst despite not being rehabilitated in other areas the inmates of the camps are being regularly notified for eviction as they are considered encroachers of the forest zone by the officials of the forest department of the state. In number of occasion they are forced to eviction drive but as a result of no alternative land of their own nor allotted land by the government they continue to stayed back in the camps.

The questions before us:
The moot point is where they would go from the camps? Is the government ready to bear the cost in rehabilitating them by providing them one time economic package instead of spending meager amount in every single year. Every year expenditures will not help them to improve their living conditions. For us, to give them special economic benefits in one go or installment basis would help them in many ways - may be to purchase land elsewhere.

The plight of them:
As a result of deep rooted poverty and all pervasive illiteracy among the community, they cannot think of their constitutional rights as to be enjoyed by every citizens of the country. Nor they could perceive such rights and entitlement. Every single day is a absolute struggle for them. Even though they know when there are in struggle they could beg something from the government authorities but they are not empowered to protest their due entitlement. They have no money to bear the travel cost that they need to approach the state functionaries again and again in order to convince the officials and authorities. We have not heard even the community leaders of the area of being vocal about their well being.

That is why this PIL
Knowing their deprived of constitutional rights of the country the ant and Lawyers For Rights have taken initiative to file PIL in the Guwahati High Court for their relief and rehabilitation so that it creates ripples to the government for early solution along with other social and political pressure. We are hoping good orders from this first Public litigation by Lawyers for Rights. The hearing is likely to come up by the 18^th of this month. It is one of the major initiative of Lawyers for Rights soon after its formation.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Our View on Rural Employment Guarantee Act

2007-12-01T17:49:00.000+05:30

Our View on Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Two years have elapsed since National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 came into force in the country. With its budgetary capacity at the initial period, it has targeted the poorest of the district in the country for implement its rural guarantee schemes. Out of the 200 districts in the country selected for the first year of its implementation, seven districts have been selected from the state of Assam. These are Dhemaji, Goal Para, Lakhimpur, Karbi Anglong, North Cachar, Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar district. Presently another six district is being covered in the state. Very soon the union government will decide to extend in all the district of the country.

The main features of the Act is that the Program Officer i.e. the BDO in Assam state has to ensures 100 days of work in a year whoever applies for job, within 15 days of application after its registration. If not given job with thin 15 days of application the state has to provide unemployment allowance. This is a guarantee period under the Act. Procedurally to entitle 100 days of work a person name should be registered, issued job card by the block authorities and seek work through application at the Panchayat office or at the BDO office. Any person whoever volunteer to work could apply for the Job card.

However not a single procedures of this employment law has taken place. Surprisingly, we have been informed in the recent Right to Information and Right to Food workshop in one of the village of Kokrajhar that not a single job card has been issued to the people including to all these participants. The people have reported the job cards are kept at the office almirah of the village council. These are complete violation of the law. When the people in power are violators of law how could we expect the common man to follow the law of the land.

I think these are the things where people do not understand and finds even issueless while not doing their duties. We should realize some of the militancy problem here is due to such poor governance where people are not getting their own entitle welfare schemes. When the people could do whatever they feel like doing like looting away public money, then the other side of the people who observes them finds no hope in the development. These itself is the beginning of the lawless society. These are the issues where it allows the common man mind set into tense and stress, where no body thinks of common good of the people. Consequently these could lead the society worst of the worst. As many feel whether government exist or not it doesn’t matter, even without the government the people could survive. Its never too late it is important to take steps by the government to reach the welfare measures right to the people. This is the only way to make them feel good factor among the people. Unless the government make people feels the importance of the government services, the situation of these region will not change. Only development and the showed of opportunities for the people can change the people mindset into progressive and agreeable at the right direction.

The Employment Law if implemented properly could bring rapid change in the village. Lot of money through wages and infrastructural facilities could be invested under the law. So it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the development through well intention perspective plan.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

RTI Training for media, social activist, Lawyers and Arvind Kejriwals meet-the-press program

2007-11-22T20:15:00.000+05:30

On the invitation of Lawyers for Rights, Guwahati – Assam, Arvind Kejriwal a Magsayasay Award winner 2006 is coming for the Right to Information Law training Program in Guwahati on the 22nd Dec 2007.

Lawyers for Rights is inviting both the local media personnel, social activist and lawyers of the State for the said program. It’s the first program of such kind in the state.

The purpose of the program is specially to sensitize the media on the need to uncover the anomalies of the Government sponsored welfare schemes and the present system of the state authorities for better transparency and accountability through use of RTI law. Hopefully these would in turn educate the general public through regular publicity so that the people of this region become an informed citizens of the country.

The program will start form 9 am to 4 pm including press meet with Arvind Kejriwal.
Date : 22nd Dec 2007.
Time : 9 am to 4 pm.
Venue: The Assam State Musuem.

You are all most cordially invited.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Our View on Assam State Water Policy Draft

2007-10-23T14:42:00.000+05:30

Our View on Assam State Water Policy Draft

The Civil Society Groups of Assam has out rightly rejected the Water Policy draft in its state level consultation meet held on the 29th Sept. 2007. Instead it has collectively called to reframe the water policy draft with its own needs and context. The citizens found the same to be at the behest of the private capital and essence of the policy to be commercialization of the nature’s gift. The meet unequivocally held that the implementation of the policy will only lead to denial of access to water to the common masses. The entire exercise of preparation of the draft was carried out in a hush hush manner without making any consultation with the people. However, with all its purposes these consultations have been organized at the initiative of the civil society groups in which the participants out rightly rejected the draft.

Interestingly we found the state policy to be more or less in tune with that of the Asian Development Bank’s Water Policy, 2003, the very aim of which was to make water a commodity. What has, however been most interesting is that in an recent interview one top official from the World Bank candidly admitted that with privatization of water the prices may shoot up unreasonably. Is it not possible for the state to make water policy looking at its own regional realities and people expectations? How many people will afford to meter their tap water and farmer’s irrigational waters gauged under the present form of state water policy draft?

Experiences in other countries have proved that privatization of the water system has neither been successful nor it has been able to serve the interest of the people. Common complaint was about the inflated bills made by the private operators and these agencies were least bothered about the problems of the people. With no accountability to the public these private agencies will be at liberty to do things as they wish that too when there will be no control over them. And finally what the corporate could do is to loot away the resources we have including the ground water. Depletion of ground water and environmental disasters are the other consequences of implementation of such a policy.

Apart from these, the bitter experiences of the public from the process of privatization in the name of reform that has been undergoing in electricity sector of the state of Assam is also enough to create apprehension. It is sure that in case of implementation of such an anti people policy the people of Assam will face similar kind of experience.

Under the circumstances the best thing will be to reframe the water policy keeping in minds our specific needs and wants. We need a policy which can irrigate our land, control the perennial flood and make water accessible to all. And all these will be possible only through a policy prepared for furthering the interest of the people.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Our View on Domestic Violence

2007-08-23T20:35:00.000+05:30

It was after a long drawn democratic struggle by the women and other groups that the parliament enacted the domestic violence Act, 2005 to curb domestic violence which has become an order of the day in most of the families. Accordingly the said Act also become applicable in the state of Assam and the government has framed rules a set of rules under the said Act for proper implementation of its Provisions.

Though nearly two years have already been elapsed it seems the Act the Act has not been able to catch popular imagination in this part of the country. That apart the officers entrusted with the implementation of the Act themselves are not fully equipped enough to handle the cases under the Act. This is what the Lawyers for Rights encountered while helping a woman in distress to file a petition under the provision of this Act.

What shock us most was the fact that the district social welfare officer, Kamrup district who is designated as the Protection Officer lacks the basic knowledge about the provisions of the Act not to speak of other technicalities like issuance of summon etc. Another interesting fact that comes to knowledge is that till June 2007 the office has received only one application from the aggrieved person. This shows the lackadaisical attitude of the Government in popularising the Act.

The worst sufferers of the domestic violence are the women from the downtrodden section of the society neither have the minimum knowledge nor have the resource to take recourse to the said Act to save them from the worst kind of violence they faced in every day life. In our view a concerted effort by the non-government organisation working amongst the women can ensure effective implementation of the provision of the Act.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

How to seek Information under RTI?

2007-07-21T23:24:00.000+05:30

How to seek information through RTI?
We assume that you already know what RTI is and have gone through our previous post explaining it. If you have not, you can go through it by clicking here.
Now, before you start to seek information, you need to know what the RTI process is.

RTI Process
Under RTI Act -2005, every Government department is required to designate one of its existing officers as Public Information Officers (PIO).
The role of this all important officer is to:
# Accept your application for information.
# Gather information sought by you from various wings of that department.
# Provide the information to you.
In many departments, PIO's are also assisted by Assistant PIO's (APIO). Their job is only to accept applications from the public and forward it to the right PIO. Thus, you can submit your application to either a PIO directly or through an APIO.

After you submit your application, the information should be furnished to you within following time limit:
# Within 30 days if you had submitted the application to the PIO directly.
# Within 35 days if you had submitted the application to the PIO through an APIO.
On top of it, if the information sought by you affects your life and liberty, information has to be made available to you within 48 hours.

How PIO is made accountable through this process:
# If the concerned PIO or APIO refuses to accept your application form, the Information Commissioner has the power to impose a penalty of Rs 25000 on the concerned officer (PIO/APIO) who refused to accept your application.

# If the concerned PIO does not provide the information in time (i.e. 30days/35 days/48 hours as given above), a penalty of Rs 250 per day of delay can be imposed by the Information Commissioner.

# If the information provided is false or incomplete, a penalty of a maximum of Rs 25000 can be imposed.
All this fines are deducted from the officer’s personal salary.

As you can see above RTI process is foolproof – it makes a PIO accountable. The PIO is compelled to act and within definite time limits. In case he does not fulfills his responsibilities, you are at liberty to report the matter to the Information Commissioner. Hence you can expect fast results.

Armed with above knowledge, let us see what steps you should take follow while filing an application under RTI:
Step 1: Finding where to submit your application form seeking information.
Step 2: Write the application.
Step 3: Submit the application along with the fee.

Let’s go step by step for doing this.

Step1: Finding where to submit your application:
It is easy if your target department is a Central Government department.
For all Central Government Departments, 629 post offices have been designated as APIOs. Thus you can go to any of these post offices and submit your fee and application at the RTI counter in these post offices. They will issue you a receipt and acknowledgement and it is the responsibility of that post office to deliver it to the right PIO.
The list of these post offices is given at http://www.indiapost.gov.in/rtimanual16a.html

But if your target department is a State Government department, you have to do some bit of searching before you know where to submit your application. Although ideally you should have found it in the Govt. of India RTI portal: http://www.rti.gov.in/, not all states have updated the list of PIO/APIO of the state Govt. departments.

But do not lose hope yet. In case you have problems locating your PIO/APIO of any department, you can address your RTI application to “The PIO, C/o Head of Department” and send it to the concerned public authority with the requisite application fee. The Head of Department will have to forward your application to the concerned PIO.

Step 2: Writing the application:
You can write your application in a normal sheet of paper, just like any other ordinary application.

Step 3: Submitting the application along with the fee:
Along with the application, you need to pay a small sum as "Application Fee".
For any Central Government Departments, this amount is Rs 10.
However for state Government Departments, different states have prescribed different fee. Generally it is around Rs. 10 only.
You can deposit fee this fee in cash or through a DD or bankers cheque or postal order drawn in favor of that PIO. In some states, you can buy court fee stamps and affix it on your application. This would be treated as if you have deposited the fee.

You can then submit your application either by post or by hand. But in both cases, remember to keep proof of submission of the application, so that same can be used for any anomalies in future.

Further to submitting your application, when the information is handed over to you, you have to pay Rs 2 per page of information provided for Central Government Departments. It is different for different states. Similarly, there is a fee for inspection of documents. There is no fee for first hour of inspection, but after that, you have to pay Rs. 5 for every subsequent hour or fraction thereof. This is according to Central Rules. For each state, the state rule varies.

Have we been able to make you confident of filing an RTI application?
If the your answer to this question is "YES", we would feel we have inched closer to reaching our objective.
For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Right to Information (RTI)

2007-07-21T23:23:00.000+05:30

Introduction:
As an Indian citizen, you enjoy a very powerful right called as “Right to Information” (RTI). This right is a part of the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution which says:

“Every citizen has freedom of speech and expression”

Now, how can you exercise your freedom to speak and express, unless you have the “Information”? This is how RTI is linked to the fundamental right to “Speak & Express”.

For adding teeth to this very powerful right, Govt. of India have enacted “RTI Act -2005”, which has established the process through which we can exercise this fundamental right. This act has become effective from 12th October 2005 and extends to whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

As can be understood from above, RTI Act-2005 does not give you a new right. Your "Right to Information" was already existing since from the date constitution was adopted i.e. since from 26^th November, 1949. RTI Act-2005 only streamlines the process of getting the information. RTI Act-2005 also does not creates information, but brings the information for everyone to see.

What information can you seek under RTI?
You can seek information in any form including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form etc.

To illustrate, you can:
# Ask any questions from the Government or seek any information.
# Take copies of any government documents.
# Inspect any government documents.
# Inspect any Government works.
# Take samples of materials of any Government work.

From whom can you seek this information?
You can seek this information from any Government offices and also organizations such as Public Sector industries, NGO’s etc. which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government.

You can also seek this information from private organizations.
The private organizations, which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government are directly covered by RTI act. Others are indirectly covered. That is, if a government department can access information from any private body under any other Act, the same can be accessed by the citizen under the RTI Act through that government department.

Use this lethal weapon:
RTI Act over rides all existing Acts including Officials Secrets Act - 1923 (Refer Sec 22 of the RTI Act 2005).
Hence you can use it for your own individual good (for getting as simple a thing as a Ration card) or for the good of society (for example, to end corruptions by unearthing the truth).

Do you wish to use this lethal weapon now?
If you wish to use this over-riding act to unearth corruptions/malpractices for the good of society or even for your personal good for redressing of your grievances, LFR is here to help you.

For this, at first you need to know how to file an application for the information needed by you. Click here to get started.

Right to Food

2007-07-21T23:22:00.000+05:30

Right to Food - the meaning & the origin:
This is an age of “India Shining” and you might have gone through a lot of news articles saying how well-stocked we are as a nation in food grains. At same time, another news item in the same paper catches your eye – “People dies of starvation – drought/flood..”.

Does not above two stories contradict one another? While we have surplus food stocks, same are not available to people in need. This is the genesis of “Right to Food”.. An NGO named People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) filed a writ petition in Supreme Court on April 16, 2001 asking the same question - "Starvation deaths have become a National Phenomenon while there is a surplus stock of food grains in government godowns. Does the right to life mean that people who are starving and who are too poor to buy food grains free of cost by the State from the surplus stock lying with the State particularly when it is lying unused and rotting?"

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution on “Protection of life and personal liberty” states that:

No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

Now, if you do not have bare minimum to eat, how can you live? If the Govt. of India fails to give you the bare minimum food, will it not amount to deprivation of your right to live?

Therefore, Your “Right to Food” emanates from this very important article (Article-21) - you can live only when you have the food to eat!

Supreme Courts Directive on above writ petition:
As a fall-out of above writ petition by PUCL, Supreme Court ordered that following eight poverty alleviation schemes of the Central Government are required to be implemented by State Governments:
1. Targeted Public Distribution System.
2. Antyodaya Anna Yojona.
3. Mid Day Meal Scheme ( MDMS).
4. National Old Age Pension Scheme.
5. Annapurna.
6. Integrated Child Development Scheme ( ICDS).
7. National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS).
8. National Family Benefit Scheme.
The court also issued directions to states to identify the needy and to provide them with grain and other services by early 2002. For example, for the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme, “The States are directed to complete the identification of BPL (below poverty level) families, issuing of cards, and commencement of distribution of 35 kgs. grain per family per month latest by 1st January, 2002”.

All state governments were directed to take their “entire allotment of foodgrains from the Central Government under the various Schemes and disburse the same in accordance with the Schemes”.

Food for Right is now a legal entitlement:
Through this interim order (on November 28, 2001), the Supreme Court converted most food and employment-related schemes into “legal entitlements”. This also implies that the Government of India and state governments cannot change these schemes without the permission of the SC till the final judgment is passed in this case.

Mechanism to monitor Right to Food:
In a subsequent interim order on May 8, 2002, the SC also put in place an independent mechanism—the Commissioners of the Supreme Court—to ensure compliance by the state and central government with the orders of the court.

The Commissioners submit bi-annual reports to the SC. Six reports highlighting non-compliance, structural issues regarding hunger, and the hurdles in implementation have been submitted to the SC so far. The SC then asks the state and central governments to respond to the issues raised by the Commissioners.

The Commissioners are also empowered to move contempt of court charges against Chief Secretaries and other senior state/ central government officials when the non-compliance is wilful and deliberate. The Commissioners have appointed Joint Commissions of Enquiry (JCEs) with representatives nominated both by the Commissioners and the government, to enquire into charges of malfeasance by government officials in food schemes. JCEs have been commissioned in Chhattisgarh, Assam, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. These enquiries have led to the dismissal of a few officials, departmental enquiries against some, and suspension from service for others. They have also led to grievances about the implementation of food schemes being addressed.

The Commissioners operate through a network of honorary state and national advisers to monitor the progress of the food schemes, suggest reforms in the laws, policies and programmes pertaining to the Right to Food, and, wherever necessary, get directions from the SC and have action taken against erring state/ central government officials.

What LFR does for Right to Food:
Although this right is now available to the citizens as a legal entitlement, the poor and the needy among them have not used these rights to demand, because of lack of awareness. LFR disseminates information to civil society groups on such alleviation schemes through workshops and meetings.

We also provide information where they should approach and get the benefits of such schemes. For instance Supreme Court Commissioner appointed in this case is one of the grievance authority bodies. This is where people can put forward their complaint. However till date the people have not been able to utilize their role and responsibilities. It is because of such issues we as organization try to connect and network with the commissioner and the people for better implementation of the schemes.

How LFR support the grass roots NGO’s?
People are encouraged now to use RTI against these schemes to find out how much rations they are allotted and whether the BPL families are getting the ration in installment, how many beneficiaries are getting the benefit of the schemes and how many schools are providing the mid day meal and how much money has been allotted to each students; in PDS, how much kerosene is being allotted and how much they should provide for the household.

Finally after getting all the information on irregularities, LFR might able to take up litigation as a last resort.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Women's Rights

2007-07-21T23:20:00.000+05:30

Introduction:
Are you a woman (or know of any woman, whom you want to help) who has been facing cruelty at home?
Then look no further, “"Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005” (effective from 26th October, 2006 in all states & union territories) ensures that you no longer have to lead a life in cruelty. You would get justice within 60 days of the first hearing! On top of that, a person (called Protection Officer) would assist you in every steps of your fight to get justice!
Lets learn more of this!

Who can seek justice under this act?
To get justice under this act, you need not naturally be the wife of the person (called respondent) whom you want to complain against.
The act covers not just the wife but a woman who is the sexual partner of the male irrespective of whether she is his legal wife or not.
The daughter, mother, sister, child (male or female), widowed relative, in fact, any woman residing in the household who is related in some way to the respondent, is also covered by the Act.

What constitutes a Domestic Violence?
‘Domestic violence’ includes actual abuse or the threat of abuse that is physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic. Harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands to the woman or her relatives would also be covered under this definition.
Examples include:
Physical abuse - Beating, pushing, shoving
Sexual abuse - Forcing to have intercourse or look at pornography
Verbal abuse - Insulting
Economic abuse - Not providing for wife and children.

How to lodge a complaint?
If you are a victim, you can lodge the complaint yourself.
The complaint can also be lodged by "any person who has reason to believe that" such an act has been or is being committed. This means that neighbours, social workers, relatives etc. can also lodge the complaint on your behalf.

The complaint can be lodged directly to the court or also through the “Protection Officer”. You can download this form by clicking here to lodge the complaint. This form is also available with the “Protection Officer” of your locality.

Who is a Protection Officer?
A “Protection Officer” is a local officer appointed/nominated by the state Govt. to help a victim get justice.
He may either be a state government official (not below the rank of Deputy Tehsildar or a Block Development Officer) or be a representative of a NGO/ Service Provider registered under the Act (who has served the organization for at least 2 years and has been working in the area of empowerment of women).
As a victim, you have the right to request the Protection Officer for following assistance:
1. To assist you in providing for your safety, including asking for an appropriate protection order in view of the risk of the violence to you and your children.
2. To assist you in obtaining your essential personal effects and locating and taking you to a including any registered service provider under the Act but not limited to it or to a family member's or a friend's residence, or a similar place of safety.
3.0 To assist you in getting medical treatment if you are in need of medical treatment for yourself or your children.
4.0 To assist you in registering an FIR in the police station.

You also have the right to ask the protection officer to assist you in reporting the matter yourself directly to the concerned court or filing any application yourself directly in the concerned court and not through the Protection Officer.

You may request a copy of any report or application to the court filed in your case, free of cost.

What justice you can expect from the court?
Under this act, magistrate has the powers to permit the aggrieved woman to stay in her place of abode and not be evicted by the husband in retaliation, even if she has no legal claim or share in the property.

The magistrate also has powers to protect the woman from acts of violence or even "acts that are likely to take place" in the future and can prohibit the respondent from dispossessing the aggrieved person or in any other manner disturbing her possessions, entering the aggrieved person's place of work or, if the aggrieved person is a child, the school. The respondent can also be restrained from attempting to communicate in any form, whatsoever, with the aggrieved person, including personal, oral, written, electronic or telephonic contact". The respondent can even be prohibited from entering the room/area/house that is allotted to her by the court.

The Act allows magistrates to impose monetary relief and monthly payments of maintenance. The respondent can also be made to meet the expenses incurred and losses suffered by the aggrieved person and any child of the aggrieved person as a result of domestic violence and can also cover loss of earnings, medical expenses, loss or damage to property and can also cover the maintenance of the victim and her children.

It also allows the magistrate to make the respondent pay compensation and damages for injuries including mental torture and emotional distress caused by acts of domestic violence.

If the offence is proven, this act gives a penalty up to one year imprisonment and/or a fine up to Rs. 20,000/- for and offence. The offence is also considered cognisable and non-bailable (Ch.V, S.32(i) while S. 32 (2) goes even further and says that "under the sole testimony of the aggrieved person, the court may conclude that an offence has been committed by the accused".

Speedier Justice:
The Act also ensures speedy justice as the court has to start proceedings and have the first hearing within 3 days of the complaint being filed in court and every case must be disposed of within a period of sixty days of the first hearing (Ch.IV, S.12 (a) (4) and (5)).

What is the role of LFR?
Lawyers for Rights would like to give you the legal aid as a Service Provider under Section 37 (2) (g) of the Act.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Witch Hunting

2007-07-21T23:15:00.000+05:30

Witch Craft Practices in Assam:
While the man has moved beyond moon and is venturing into space and the rest of India is shining, in some places of Assam, the dark forces of evil is still being worshiped and some of them killed, because they practices it. Yes, we are talking about witch craft!

Not that we support this evil practice, but what most un-nerves us is the more evil way in which the persons practicing witch craft are hunted down and killed mercilessly. Some persons are killed on mere suspicion of witchcraft and sorcery, even though they had not been practicing it at all!

Some statistics to illustrate our point: more than 200 people have been reportedly killed on suspicion of witchcraft and sorcery in the last five years alone. Such gruesome incidents have been increasing year after year. Presently the instances of witch killings are confined within the three communities of Assam. These are Adivasi, Bodos and the Missing communities. The major happenings are seen among the Bodo community.

Witch hunting - understanding the process:
Witch killings always happens amongst the downtrodden that has to rely on the quacks, as health facilities are not available to them.

The powerful in the village are mostly involved in such crime. These extreme actions happen after a lot of silent social mobilization through rumors in the village. When the whole village finally declares on the suspected witch, individual or groups goes into actions. Sometimes branding of witch may not come through formal declaration of the community but it is implicitly done.

On little suspicion with no scientific reasoning, the poorest of the poor is targeted. It is shocking that they are paraded naked, their body parts chopped off into pieces and often hacked to death by the village mob.

Why LFR is interested to work on this issue?
In this strange issue, normally only the few person who get directly involved are punished to a certain extent.

It is observed in most witches hunting cases the whole communities of the village are involved either through conspiracy, aids and instigations. Otherwise these sorts of killings by one or more persons would have been difficult to carry out in such extreme actions.

To illustrate involvement of whole village in the crime:
Lets take the normal cases of rural customs, in which guilty are called for explanation for the crime. But in witch hunting crimes, the criminals are never charged in the village court. They are not even tried and inquired in the village by the village head or the leaders. This implies the consistent moral support of the whole village in the crime. Therefore the killings of suspect witch or Daina is not actions of the individual alone but also the whole community of the village.

How LFR intends to act upon it?
In order to prevent and tackle this social menaces we need to take effective measures for deterrence. It is not enough just to consider it as murder and book it under section 302 of IPC.

To deal with it, we need effective law to curb this dimension of crime apart from improving the medical facilities to the rural folk practicing it. It is appropriate to have legislation to fight against these strange issues.

LFR intends to associate itself to dispel the superstitions among the rural folk by social mobilization as well as it intends to lobby for enacting effective legislation to curb this crime.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Police Reforms

2007-07-21T22:49:00.001+05:30

Introduction:
India achieved independence 60 years ago…. a lot of changes has occurred nationally/ internationally since than… from an undeveloped nation, we became a developing nation and are now being talked about of becoming a developed nation soon..
A lot of changes have occurred, have they really? Well, at least one thing for sure has not: The archaic Police Act of 1861, enacted when we were slaves, by which we are ruled even today!

Policing is a State Subject under the Indian Constitution. Every state must enact their own Police Acts. But most states have chosen to adopt the 1861 Act. Some states have enacted their own Acts but even these closely resemble the 1861 Act.

The result is therefore everyone to see: Police forces everywhere have been either rendered ineffective (with no autonomy because of the interference from Politics/Mafias) or they have become abusive (Police forces have become non-accountable, as whatever mechanisms were devised to make them accountable, have failed).

Time for a change:
Well, if the things have not changed so far, it does not mean it would never! This movement for change was initiated by two former policemen themselves.

On 30th July1996, two former Director Generals of Police (Prakash Singh & N.K. Singh) took the issue to the Supreme Court (through a Writ Petition (Civil) No. 310 of 1996), requesting the Court to direct central and state governments to address the most glaring gaps and bad practice in the functioning of the police.

After a decade when the PIL was admitted, on 22nd September 2006, the Supreme Court delivered a historic judgment on it, instructing central and state governments to comply with a set of seven directives laying down practical mechanisms to kick-start reform. They include recommendations from many of the commissions and committees on police reform that have sat in India over the last 25 years.

These directives can be broadly divided into two categories:
Those seeking to achieve functional Autonomy for the police (Part I) &
Those seeking to enhance police Accountability (Part II).

Part I: Functional autonomy
Directive 1. State Security Commission:
The state governments are directed to constitute a State Security Commission to:
# Ensure that the state government does not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the police.
# Lay down broad policy guidelines.
# Evaluate the performance of the state police.

Directive 2. Director General of Police
State government is to ensure that the Director General of Police is appointed through a merit based, transparent process and enjoys a minimum tenure of two years.

Directive 3. Minimum tenure for other police officers
State government is to ensure that other police officers on operational duties (including Superintendents of Police in-charge of a district and Station House Officers in-charge of a police station) also have a minimum tenure of two years.

Directive 4. Police Establishment Board
State government is to set up a Police Establishment Board, which will decide all transfers, postings, promotions and other service related matters of police officers of and below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police and make recommendations on postings and transfers of officers above the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Directive 5. National Security Commission
State government is to set up a National Security Commission at the union level to prepare a panel for selection and placement of Chiefs of the Central Police Organisations (CPO), who should also be given a minimum tenure of two years.

Part II: Accountability
Directive 6. Police Complaints Authority
State government is to set up independent Police Complaints Authorities at the state and district levels to look into public complaints against police officers in cases of serious misconduct, including custodial death, grievous hurt or rape in police custody.

Directive 7. Separation of investigation and law and order police
State government is to separate the investigation and law and order functions of the police.

What is the status of judgment?
Chronology of the events which followed since the judgment was passed:

22 September 2006:
Supreme Court delivers judgment on the Prakash Singh petition, gives states till 3 Jan 2007 to comply.

11 January 2007
Supreme Court hearing monitoring compliance with its directives of September 2006.
Deadline imposed by Supreme Court for immediate compliance with directives 2,3,5 through executive orders.

31st March 2007
Extension for implementation of remaining directives 1,4,6,7.

10th April 2007
Deadline to file affidavits of compliance.

31 August 2007
Supreme Court hearing on contempt petition (filed by Prakash Singh) and applications for extension/modifications.

Which states have complied with the judgment?
The status of implementation of the judgment by the individual states varies from “Compliant” to “Non compliant”. State wise compliance can be seen here.

What is the role of LFR:
We have not much made headway in these particular activities. What we are trying to do is to lobby for the legislature through the general public. We are working on these activities with the Common wealth Human Rights Initiative, Delhi Office. We also intend to invoke Section 4(1)(c) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 – so that we can ensure the draft legislation that goes before State Assemblies and Parliament is in the public domain and has been made available for comment under proactive disclosure provisions in the said section of the RTI-2005.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

Legal Aid

2007-07-21T22:45:00.001+05:30

Legal Aid service by LFR:
LFR does not declares itself to be an expert on all matters of law, but seeks to address the much needed requirement of availing justice for all sections of society, including the poor and the downtrodden.

But to achieve its stated objectives, it has to also earn monetarily so as to sustain the process.

It therefore intends to provide aid in the matter of law to the following three sections of society with varying degree of legal fees, as per the level of income of the person seeking justice and as per the directive of Supreme Court under Section 3A of Legal Service Authority Act.:

For poor: Free Legal Aid.
For middle income group: Nominal Fee.
For all other persons: Standard Fee.

Whom does Supreme Court says is a poor?
A person is treated as poor and is entitled to free legal aid, if he/she falls within one or more of the following categories: -

# He/she belongs to the poor section of the society having annual income of less than Rs. 50,000/-per annum, or
# He/she belongs to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, or
# He/she is a victim of natural calamity, or
# He/she is a woman or a child or a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person or an industrial workman, or
# He/she is in custody including custody in protective home, or
# Victims of trafficking in human beings.

In all above cases, Free legal aid to such persons is provided by the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee.
Details of the same can be found here: http://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/HBPAPSCOI/10.html

Whom does Supreme Court says to be belonging to middle income group?
Persons with income below Rs. 2,00,000/- per annum are treated as belonging to middle income group and they are eligible to get legal aid from the Supreme Court Middle Income Group Legal Aid Society, on nominal payments.

How much does LFR charges for Legal Aid Services?
LFR would charge the same fees (free and nominal) as per the above directive of Supreme Court under Section 3A of Legal Service Authority Act.

For your any further query, we would be happy to answer. You can contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com. We would also be happy if you post your comments on this topic below.

About Lawyers For Rights

2007-07-21T22:43:00.000+05:30

Lawyers For Rights (LFR) is a registered NGO (Reg. No.: RS/KAM/240/A-7/295 dated: 24/04/2007), with the objective of finding justice for the common man and for getting rid of social malpractices. A professional team of seven young lawyers practicing at Guwahati High Court works for it.

Its office is located at Rudra Bhawan, Uzan Bazaar, Naozan Road, Guwahati – 1, Assam and is open from 9 AM to 12 Noon, 1 PM to 5 PM from Monday to Friday. In Saturdays the office is open from 9 AM to 12 Noon only.

Currently, LFR is working only within the state of Assam but would gradually cover all the North Eastern states when it has enough resources.

Within only five months of its registration, LFR has been able to network and provide trainings and hold awareness program to a large number of grass roots NGO’s including student’s union members, villagers, local political leaders and government officials.

LFR has seen itself and is also being told that these persons (the trainees) are now in action, using Right to Information to find out social welfare schemes. For instance after a recent training at Gossaigaon, student union members have applied RTI application in more than six government departments.

Almost every day LFR receives phone calls from people asking what should be done with regards to RTI, Domestic violence, Labour issues etc. LFR is also being invited by the individual and NGO’s to organize Right to Food and Right to information training program in their own areas, which suggests there was a need of such organization as LFR for a long time.

With such recognitions from the masses, LFR is reasonably happy with the achievements so far.

Objectives & Modus Operandi

2007-07-21T22:41:00.000+05:30

Our Objectives:
:: To make judicial system accessible for the common man.
:: To make legal intervention in order to empower the underprivileged section of the society politically, socially and economically.
:: To lobby with all organs of the state for bringing about the necessary changes in the policy matters.
:: To take up legal issues affecting the common man and the issues highlighted by the NGO’s/ Community based organization and Civil Society groups.
:: To work on women and children Rights.
:: To create awareness among the general public about their rights by organizing Seminars,Workshops, Publications, Cultural programs and other means of public mobilization.
:: To intervene in all those issues where people rights to dignified living is at stake.

Modus Operandi:
We try to achieve our objectives in a multipronged way –

We liaise, organize and work with the civil society groups, NGO’s and social activists of this region who is concerned about Rights Based issues. Besides this, we also hold awareness meetings so that people and communities are sensitized and mobilized to demand their legal rights and entitlement from the government authorities.

And whenever there is real need of legal support from our side we take litigation in the court or offer our expertise in the procedural law or process of justice. Access to justice will not be limited to courts alone but rather it would extend to Commission, Tribunals, Committees, Grievance Redressal Forums and other statutory bodies. This would be taken pro-bono or at a very nominal fees so that common man could access and approach us at any given point of time....

Is there any issue, which you think we should take up?
If yes and if it conforms to our stated objectives, please do not hesitate to contact us at emaillfr@gmail.com.

Lawyers for Rights Team

2007-07-21T22:39:00.000+05:30

Lawyers For Rights consists of a team of seven young lawyers practicing in Guwahati High Court, hailing from different corners of North East India.

A brief introduction of the individuals follows:

Santanu Borthakur : President, LFR.
He has been practicing in the Guwahati High Court for last seven years.

Saito Basumatary : Secretary, LFR.
Actively involved in Actionaid India and other civil society organization since 2002. He has recently joined Guwahati High Court specially to work on social action litigation.

Sudakshina Khanikar : Treasurer, LFR.
She has been practicing in the Guwahati High Court and the District Court for the last three years.

Putul Kr. Borah : Executive Member, LFR.
He has been practicing in the Guwahati High Court and the lower Court for the last three and half years. Right now he is actively working on Right to Information Act 2005.

Anil Gohain : Executive Member, LFR.
He has been practicing in the Guwahati High Court and the District Court for the last four years. He likes to mobilize people about their legal rights and entitlement through street theaters.

Bipasha Das : Member, LFR.
She is a practicing lawyer in the Guwahati High Court.

Tilok Ranjan Sharmah : Member, LFR.
He is a practicing lawyer in the Guwahati High Court.

Lawyers For Rights Blog

2007-07-21T22:37:00.000+05:30

Lawyers for rights, on its journey to realize its objectives, intends to reach out to as many people as possible, so that more of us come to know of the rights enshrined in our constitution and where required, fight to realize them.

It also intends to reach out through an interactive media, so that people can participate in it.

Therefore this blog came into being - to involve as many people as possible.

You are invited to participate:
You can contribute in two ways: as a Author or as a Reader.

If you are an expert on any six area of our works (i.e. Right to Information (RTI), Right to Food, Women's Rights, Witch Hunting, Police Reforms and Legal Aid) and would like to help people by providing information, you can join us as an Author, so that you can post new topics.

If you wish to be a Author:
Please mail us at emaillfr@gmail.com, tell us about you, so that we can send you the invitation to join us as a Author. You can also contact us by clicking here.

You can also participate in this blog as a Reader, by commenting on the topics being posted, by clicking "Post a Comment" link towards the bottom of the post. You can also send your feedback by contacting us by clicking here.

Some words about the advertisements being displayed in this site:
We have allowed Google advertisements to be displayed here, as we have found many of them have very good information and hence useful.

For example, on clicking following advertisement, it led us to the website of "www.sakshitrust.org".

Sakshi Trust is an NGO, originating in September 2005.

This website has a lot of valuable information on RTI.

The advertisement on the right led us to the website of "www.bayefsky.com"

It is a storehouse of information, for anyone, who wants to gain expertise on "Human Rights" from an International perspectives.

Same thing can be said of many other advertisements appearing here. You are welcome to form your own opinion about them.

This blogsite has been designed and developed by Prasanta Bora for LFR.
He can be reached at mailborap@gmail.com

LFR Diary

2007-07-21T22:35:00.000+05:30

Future Events:

28th August 2007: Hearing on Domestic Violence for victim Mrs Mariom Parvin of Bongaigaon district at the Protection Officer office, Kamrup - Assam

28th August 2007: Submission of Domestic violence for Nomita Choudhury of Nalbari district at the office of Protection Officer, Kamrup - Assam

Third week of August 2007: PIL for Internally displaced Camps of Adivasi people of Kokrajhar and Chirang district, Assam for relief and rehabilitation in the Guwahati High Court.

1st Sept 2007 - Right to Food and Right to Information workshop with "Golaghat Mohila Gut" based in Golaghat

Past Events:
13th September 2007: Right to Food and Right to Information workshop organised with NERSWN, Kokrajhar and with the ant, Chirang at Saraibil under Gossaigaon subdivision.

22nd September 2007: Legal Education Program organised at Basugaon under Kokrajhar district with BLES an NGO based in Kokrajhar.

28th July 2007: Training on RTF at Tezpur RTF training for the activist groups of Tezpur along with EAST (an NGO).

29th June, 2007: Training on RTI & RTF at Jorhat RTI & RTF training was conducted at Jorhat for the activist groups along with the NEADS of golaghat.

27th June, 2007: Training on RTI & RTF at Dibrugarh RTI & RTF training was conducted at Dibrugarh for the groups of NGO with the NEADS of Golaghat in June 27th last 2007

10th to 11th May, 2007: Training on RTI at Gosaigaon Three RTI trainings were conducted under Gosaigaon Block at Kokarjhar ditsrict with the help of an an NGO called North Eastern Research and Social Work Networking (NERSWN) for the Village political leaders, block officials, self-help groups and the students activist.

7th April, 2007: Training on RTI at Titaguri RTI training at Titaguri Block with an NGO called Lapa Saikho on for the local political leaders, block officials and the self-help groups.

22nd February, 2007: Training on RTI &amp; RTF at Guwahati Training program on RTI & RTF was conducted at Guwahati for the church leaders of the NE.