para legal volunteer training - campus law centreclc.du.ac.in/reports/para legal volunteer...
TRANSCRIPT
LEGAL AID SOCIETY, CAMPUS LAW CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
DELHI STATE LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY ORGANISES
“PARA LEGAL VOLUNTEER TRAINING” (13
th-14
th OCTOBER, 2017)
DAY 1 (13.10.2017)
Legal Aid Society, Campus Law Centre in association with Delhi State Legal Services Authority
organized the Two Days “Para Legal Volunteers Training” on 13th
– 14th
October, 2017 in Seminar Hall,
Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi.
Welcome Address: Professor (Dr.) Usha
Tandon, Professor-in-Charge, Campus Law
Centre
The program began with the felicitation of
Speakers Sh. Sanjeev Jain, AD&SJ/Member
Secretary, DSLSA and Sh. Naveen Gupta,
Additional Secretary, DSLSA by Professor (Dr.)
Usha Tandon, Professor-in-Charge, Campus Law
Centre. Following this the welcome address was
delievered by Prof. (Dr.) Usha Tandon, wherein
she drew light upon the beginning of the Legal
Education movement, the emergence of National
Law Schools and expansion of the education of
Law to a multidisciplinary degree. She used this
development of legal education in India to
emphasise upon the need for good lawyers in the
country.
She also talked about how legal aid activities have always been a fundamental part of the culture at CLC
and how they were institutionalized in 2013 with the setting up of the formal Legal Aid Clinic by the
DSLSA. Talking about the effect of the 1987 Legal Aid Movement and enactment of the Legal Services
Authorities Act, Prof. Tandon said that consequent to the Movement, the Legal Education as well as the
broad thinking and perspective of the Judiciary also altered. In the end, she requested the DSLSA to
provide the opportunity of becoming a PLV to a larger number of students.
Session 1: Orientation of Interns, Introduction to Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, Legal Aid
Programmes and Activities of Delhi State Legal Services Authority, Justice System, Adjudicatory
and non-Adjudicatory Activities: Sh. Sanjeev Jain, AD&SJ/Member Secretary, DSLSA
In the introductory session, Sh. Sanjeev Jain, AD&SJ/Member Secretary,
DSLSA began with introducing what Justice actually means. He used his
journey from being a Law Student to his present stature to explain to the
aspiring PLVs, how perspectives about law and justice may change but a
few questions and the urge to give back to the society will remain the
same. He further introduced DSLSA as a Legal Services Authority, its
composition and main area of work. In addition, he moved forward to
elucidate upon the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987. Emphasising upon
the importance of dispute resolution through Lok Adalat, Sh. Jain
presented to the students a fair picture of the low disposal of case rates and
thereby, brought to everyone’s notice – the significance of a Para Legal
Volunteer discharging their role responsibly. Moving forward, he also
elaborated upon the import of Legal Aid and how the word encompasses
more than just aid in discharging legal cases or providing with Advocates.
He also listed down the fundamental rights and how legal aid is one of the
important ways in which the State makes an effort to help citizens enjoy
the Right to Equality.
Session 2: Duties of Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs): Sh. Naveen Gupta, Additional Secretary,
DSLSA
Sh. Naveen Gupta, Additional Secretary DSLSA, thereafter took up the various duties which a PLV
must discharge responsibly. He discussed examples of issues that the students in their tenure as PLVs
may face and how they can easily resolve them.
Session 3: Overview of Criminal Justice System and courts and Basic Principles of Criminal Law,
Criminal Procedure, Bail and Victim Compensation: Sh. Naveen Gupta
This session was taken by Shri. Naveen Gupta, Additional Secretary of DSLSA. He mentioned the basic
principles of criminal law, first and foremost being that the accused in custody is entitled to free legal
aid. He emphasized as a paralegal volunteer we will come across such incidents and so it is important to
have a basic knowledge of Criminal law. Addressed the
important question as to why we need criminal justice
system and talked about three basic principle i.e. Law
enforcement, adjudication and reformation. He elucidated
on the two categories of law: Substantive law and second
Procedural law. He also talked about the elements of
crime such as mens rea and actus reus along with different
stages of crimes such as intention, preparation, attempt
and commission. He also mentioned about the
classification of offences as bailable and non-bailable
offences. He also touched upon the procedural aspect of
criminal law such as filing of FIR and framing of charges.
In the end he also mentioned about the Victim
compensation.
Session 4: Effective Communication and Interpersonal skills: Ms. Shahin Hussain
In an hours session, Ms. Shahin Hussain, undertook to relay it to the
student PLVs how important our interpersonal and communication
skills whether verbal or written are. She chose various volunteers to
participate in exercises in order to provide examples. She began with the
Jump in, Jump Out activity, which showed how important listening is,
in any conversation in order for it to be effective. In another
experimental activity, she asked a PLV to stand and speak about himself
for 5 minutes in any language of his choice. Ms. Hussain, then,
highlighted the importance of carefully choosing our words and the fact
that most of the people tend to fail to speak for more than a minute or so
about simplest of the topics. The third activity entailed a picture of 5
people with their backs facing the audience, looking at some pictures
and the PLVs were asked to comment on what their body postures said
about each of them. The touch exercise was performed by 5 PLVs who
were blindfolded, and were asked to form a straight line by holding each
other by shoulder with both hands.
Further she displayed certain slides of famous people like, Charlie Chaplin, Mr. Beans and pointed out
how their body language and facial gestures conveyed everything without them uttering a single word.
In the last activity she called on for 4 volunteers who were blindfolded and were allotted a team of 4
people each. The teams were asked to direct their representative by calling out their names and directing
them to pick up cotton balls from the ground. A lot of confusion was witnessed in this exercise, as many
volunteers couldn’t even hear their team’s instructions clearly, and the others weren’t able to follow the
instructions properly.
Through the aforementioned
exercises, Ms. Shahin, drew upon
the crowd how important each
aspect of our conduct is, whether it
is our listening prowess, body
language, writing abilities or even
touch. She used basic slides and in
between exercises, exemplified the
need to be always sharp in
interactions through her visits and
work at Tihar Jail.
Session 5: Matrimonial Laws, Laws of Inheritance, Adoption, Maintenance, Dowry Prohibition
Act 1961, Cruelty within Marriage u/s 498A IPC, Dowry Death u/s 304B IPC: Sh. Man Mohan
Sharma, AD&SJ, Judge in Charge, Mediation Centre, Rohini Courts
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 was discussed. The session
started with the definition of a Hindu and the pre-
requisitions for a person to be eligible for marriage. Also
mentioned about Muslim law. It touched upon the stake
holders that might be involved in a marriage petition. The
session also had a brief mention about the legal solutions
and remedies available for a marriage which is beyond
compromise such as Divorce or judicial separation.
Maintenance and Dowry was also highlighted during the
session. In the end there was a brief mention about the
cruelty in marriage which is a ground for divorce.
Thus, the first day of the Para Legal Volunteer Training ended upon this note.
DAY 2 (14.10.20017)
Session 1: Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Protection of Children and Sexual Offences Act, 2012:
Ms. Geetanjali Goel, AD&SJ/Special Secretary, DSLSA
Ms. Geetanjali Goel, AD&SJ/ Special Secretary, DSLSA
took this session. Ms. Goel, in the first session of the
second day of the training reiterated the ideals for Legal
Aid and PLVs. She then, moved forward and took up the
Child Marriage Act. The discussion included the evolution
of the said Act through the years and how the present
minimum ages for both the genders were fixed. The session
moved forward to the Protection of Children and Sexual
Offences Act, 2012. Under this, Ms. Goel clarified the
need for POCSO and how it differed from the already
existing Laws. The session further included the recently
legislated Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The backdrop of the
said Act was discussed to bring forth the objective with
which it had been enacted. Ms. Goel emphasized on the
need for rehabilitation of children, which is the vision of
the said Act and thus concluded the session.
Session 2: Right to Information Act, 2005: Sh. K.S. Kumar, Director (Retd.), Ministry of Defense
The session began with
the definition of
information. Then the
importance of
information was
discussed. Various
Sections of the Right to
Information Act, 2005
was discussed, such as
section 4 which asks the
public authorities to
provide as much
information possible in
the public domain. The
most discussed and
important section was 2(j) which talks about the accessibility of the Information in the public domain.
The session also entertained various queries of the students.
Session 3: Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal)
Act, 2015: Sh. Naveen Gupta, Additional Secretary, DSLSA
Sh. Naveen Gupta undertook in the present session to elaborate upon the intricacies of the Act. He
discussed the landmark Supreme Court Judgment Vishakha and Others v State of Rajasthan and moved
on to explaining the various definitions of sexual harassment, workplace, aggrieved woman, employee,
employer and domestic worker under the Act. He
discussed the responsibilities that the students may be
required to undertake as a PLV.
Session 3(contd.): Protection of Women from
Domestic Violence Act, 2005: Ms. RuchikaSingla,
Secretary, North West DLSA, Rohini Courts, Delhi
Ms. RuchikaSingla addressed the gathering to discuss the
said Act. She began with an overview of the objective
with which the Act had been enacted. She further
elaborated upon the various reliefs and remedies which
the students as PLVs may tell victims of Domestic Abuse
or violence of. Further, the rights of such aggrieved
women were also discussed in detail.
Session 4: Overview of Civil Law and Courts related to possession and Injunction:
Ms. Tanvi Khurana, Secretary, South East DLSA, Saket Court.
The Session was taken up by Ms. Tanvi Khurana,
Secretary South East DLSA, Saket Court. The
Session was quite interactive where the hierarchy of
courts along with parameters of hierarchy, such as
territorial and pecuniary jurisdiction, was discussed.
She also discussed the subject matter and the
jurisdiction of tribunals. The basics of instituting a
civil suit were also taken up by her. She gave a brief
mention of types of Civil law, both substantive and
procedural. She also clarified the difference
between Review, Revision and Reference. She
touched upon the laws of possession and adverse
possession and injunction. In the end she also
apprised the students regarding the onerous duties
of a Para legal volunteer.
The last session of the training was followed by a
short feedback session in which Sh. Naveen Jain
congratulated the PLVs for their smooth conduct
over the previous two days and also addressed their
questions in relation to the training as a whole.
Vote of Thanks: Dr. Anju Sinha, (Assistant Professor) Convener, Legal Aid Society, Campus Law
Centre
The final vote of thanks was taken up by Dr. Anju
Sinha, Teacher Convener, Legal Aid Society, where
she thanked each speaker who had taken out time to
give their valuable inputs during the training. She
thanked Professor-in-Charge, Professor (Dr.) Usha
Tandon under whose supervision and guidance this
training and legal aid society in general has become a
great success.. Dr. Sinha also emphasized upon how
important legal aid has become and the significance
of the work that PLVs undertake during their tenure.
Further, she thanked the DSLSA authorities, Teacher
members of Legal Aid Society, Student Convener/
Co-Conveners and repertoires who had worked hard
to make the training a smooth success.