Notes from the meeting with Warisha and Tarique: Opportunities to intern with them
campus law centre legal aid society
MINUTES OF THE MEETING, 15th March 2011
Warisha Farashat on Communal Violence
- Warisha Farashat is with the Centre for Equity Studies (CES), an autonomous institution engaged in research and advocacy on issues of social justice, headed by Harsh Mander.
- Warisha defined communal violence as violence against particular communities, most often instigated by political groups or police. Talked of two main examples in recent history:
o Gujarat carnage 2002, Godhra Train Burning:
§ A clear case of state complicity as state authorities didn’t react in time to prevent preplanned attacks and acts of vengeance against Muslims
§ Allegedly 1700-2000 people got killed, mainly Muslims, in course of several days; many recorded cases of sexual violence
§ Compounding the injustice to the victims was the fact that FIRs were improperly registered, police often refused registration, conducted defective collection of evidence etc. – complainants subject to arbitrary power of state authorities, delay / hindrance in filing of cases; violations of procedural provisions
§ Recourse to Legal justice-- Nyayagraha:
· Examples of successful litigation: Best Bakery Case, Bilkis Bano case. The main reason why these cases resulted in convictions of the accused was the untiring efforts put in by several NGOs . SC transferred some of these cases from Gujarat to neighboring state Maharashtra—showing lack of faith in the local judiciary to act in an independent manner.
· However, these cases were just the tip of the iceberg, and the vast majority of the cases never got fully investigated or tried in courts.
· The police in Gujarat summarily closed over 2000 cases related to post-Godhra carnage, without conducting due investigation and bringing the perpetrators to trial. In response to a petition filed by Harsh Mander and the Lawyer’s Collective, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, ordered the Gujarat government to reopen these 2000 cases and carry out full investigations.
· Nyayagraha, a mass community-based legal aid campaign of Aman Biradari, was launched to oversee these reopened cases, and provide legal assistance to the victims of the carnage in their fight for justice. Check out the website of Nyayagrah here: http://www.amanbiradari.org/nyayagrah.html and here is an interview with Harsh Mander at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Harvard University where he explains more about it:
http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/cache/documents/905/90511.pdf
o 1984-Anti-Sikh-Riots in Delhi
§ 4000 Sikhs killed in Delhi alone by rioting Congress supporters in response to the murder of Indira Gandhi
§ Extensive documentation exists to show that police and politicians were complicit and instigated mob violence
§ Many Human Rights reports document the abuses of state authority by the police and politicians and are of the view that even after this delay, the Indian govt. is still to prosecute and convict those liable
- Nyayagraha (Center for Equity Studies) Projects in Delhi—Where Law Students can Intern
o A similar legal aid intervention for the anti-Sikh riot victims, as was done by Nyayagraha for Gujarat riot victims
o There 2 Sikh resettlement colonies in Delhi (for victims and survivors of 1984 riots):
§ Tilak Vihar, where members of middle class live – due to better financial situation, social and economical re-adaption was possible
§ Tilak Nagar, inhabited by people belonging to working class; because of lack of male family members and great number of female widows, family structures have changed, more matriarchal system; economical situation very weak
o The main aims of the project at this time are:
§ Documentation: so-called “legal post mortem”: how did law provide for conviction of responsible aggressors and for compensation to survivors and victims? Is intervention on the behalf of many victims possible at this time? Were some cases unfairly closed/terminated? Can these be reopened?
§ Legal aid for parties to ongoing cases
§ Social support (regarding education, opportunities for employment etc)
o Project will involve sustained engagement with the victim families to bring about improvement and to support them in the long run
o Legal training: Interns will learn to deal with the entire gamut of legal paperwork, from filing an FIR to surveillance of proceedings
THIS PROJECT WILL ONLY BEGIN IN JUNE 2011. Warisha will meet with interested students in the next month, but the project will only begin after the exams for this semester are over.
Mohammed Tarique on the Beggary and Destitution
- Tarique is with Koshish, a field action project of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and is currently working on issues of homelessness and destitution in Delhi.
- The key features of the Bombay Prevention of Beggary Act, 1959 (In force in Delhi and 20 other states)
o criminalizes not only begging but any kind of street trade like selling of goods, performing of arts
o 1-10 years of imprisonment
o If a person is without visible means of sustenance other than street trade, suspect will automatically be deemed a beggar; will be arrested along with their dependants (families)
o no distinction in law between people who don’t want to work and people who are too needy to / incapable of work
o mobile begging courts set up to hastily get rid of beggars; magistrates on spot who send arrested to jail, without any proper trial with lawyers or legal representation of the accused – 40 to 50 people arrested every day
o ends up criminalizing mentally challenged people, urban homeless, older people on the streets etc.
- Koshish project in Delhi—where law students can intern:
o Working on individual cases of people picked up from the street by the police:
§ Will involve preparing a Social Investigation Report (assessing what procedures taken by state authorities was like by talking to arrested), which shall be submitted to court
§ Often, no / insufficient inquiries as to circumstances of case, means of sustenance of accused etc. are carried out (to serve purpose of clearing streets of undesired sidewalk-dwellers).
§ Mostly “beggars” have no lawyers. Courts have given the permission to Tarique and such advocates to represent them in Beggar courts. Law students can do the representation in these cases
o Public Interet Litigations have been filed before Delhi HC
§ Students can help out in those
o Drafting cases and identifying cases where appeals can be filed
o Carrying out training sessions for street workers, officials of judiciary and jail employees
This project is ONGOING. Students can sign up for this now, and work out with Tarique when they are able to join him.