The main goal was to help legal aid lawyers to find solutions to unnecessary and long detentions in police and judicial custody of undertrial people. The course attempts to «… refine courtroom practices towards reaching the high goal of rule of law». The focus was on impacts of incarceration on the prisoner, by discussing and lecturing on due process treatment, strengthening legal aid services, and effective legal interventions by advocates. With the Indian Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.) as its starting point, the course aimed to increase the lawyers’ procedural knowledge on fair trial, minimizing pre-trial detention, and other crucial parts of legal administration.

Some of the female lawyers discussing.

The welcome address was held by Secretary in DLSA, Mr. Tan Singh Charan. Thereafter, Ms. Sana Das, Coordinator in CHRI, read out a message from Hon’ble Justice Ajay Rastogi, Chairperson of Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority (RSLSA), which was also part of the reading material handed out to the participants. Mr. Tan Singh Charan then started the first session of the workshop by talking about the importance of providing the accused with a legal aid lawyer. He was followed by Hon’ble Justice Mr Govind Mathur, Judge Rajasthan High Court & Chairman of Rajasthan High Court Legal Services Committee, who emphasized more about various methodology to improve court and legal aid practices to prevent unnecessary detention. Among other things he referred to the Cr.P.C. section 437, which states in what situations bail may be taken in case of non-bailable offenses, and section 49 and 50, which states that (”The arrested person shall not be subjected to more restraint than is necessary to prevent his escape” and that a “person arrested (is) to be informed of grounds of arrest and of right to bail”.

One of the speakers was Hon’ble Mr. Justice Gobind Mathur, Judge Rajasthan High Court.

Mr. R. K. Saxena, former Inspector General, Rajasthan Prisons and Honorary Consultant with CHRI also contributed to the session, who talked about alternatives to imprisonment in bailable and non-bailable offenses. The participants questions and comments were effectively answered and heard. Mr. Saxena also pointed out how the inequality before law contradicts with the ideal of equality before the law, and referred to undersection 39A in the Indian Constitution, which deals with equal justice and free legal aid. It claims that:

”The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.”

Mr. R.K. Saxena sharing his knowledge and experience.

The day continued with an introduction of the training by Mr. Ajay Verma, Advocate  representing IBJ India. He talked about general issues lawyers are facing, and screened a movie from the client-lawyer role play held in Jodhpur Central Jail 04th-06th October. This was followed by an active and fruitful discussion from both sides on issues regarding client-lawyer relationship, speedy trial and pre-trial justice.

Day 2 of the workshop begun with all of the lawyers introduced themselves, their name, where they are practicing and for how many years they have been practicing. Ajay Verma held a session on illegalities in the criminal justice system and also focused on prisoners’ rights. Thereafter, an interactive game was played,  led by Ms. Abha Joshi, Advocate and Ms. Sugandha Shankar, CHRI. The lawyers were asked about which problems they themselves had been facing in prison. The last session of the day was led by Ms. Abha Joshi, and followed by a panel discussion on arrest, and especially section 41 in the Cr.P.C. which states when the police may arrest without warrant.

Teamwork

On the third and last day of the workshop, the first session was led by Ms. Abha Joshi on the topic of arrest, bail and remand, bailable offenses and cognizable and non-cognizable offenses, supplemented with Ajay Verma and the rest of the panels contributions and points. In her presentation, Ms. Abha Joshi focused on sections 167 Cr.P.C., “Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty four hours”, Section 70,  which deals with forms of warrants of arrest and duration, section 41, regarding arrest of persons, and sections 43, 44, and 55, regarding procedures of arrest. In the following session the game «my favourite lawyer, my favourite client» was played. Then, some time was spent on discussing legal aid solutions, for example legal aid developments and ethics of the advocates profession.

Answering questions, from left to right: Mr. Ajay Verma, Mr. Bora, Mr. Tan Singh, Mr. R.K. Saxena.

Overall the training was successful, and the participants expressed satisfaction over the panel and the topics in focus. They also requested more senior lawyers to speak in future events, a feedback we appreciate and will follow up. It is important to underline the importance of these kind of programs as legal aid is an important part of the administration of justice, and we are looking forward to more fruitful lawyer trainings in the near future.

Some of the longterm convicts that participated in the workshop.

From the 04^th to the 06^th of October, IBJ India jointly conducted a three-day para-legal training in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The training was conducted in collaboration with CHRI (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative), State Legal Service Authority (Rajasthan), and District Legal Service Authority (Jodhpur).The overall goal of this workshop was to train longterm convicts in basic legal issues and procedures, especially relating to pre-trial detention and speedy trial. When trained properly, longterm convicts become in-house legal resources, and they are therefore potential significant resources in jail administration. Their knowledge as para-legals enables them to spread legal awareness and to assist undertrial and freshcomer prisoners in their jail.

Mr. Ajay Verma talks to one of the convict.

The workshop was titled Saksham Legal Capacity Building Workshop, a name capturing the essence of its goal in the word “Saksham”, translated to “capable” in English. We gathered about 20 literate longterm convicts in the hall of the prison complex in Jodhpur Central Jail. The prisoners participated actively in the sessions and many of them showed a big potential to be future para-legals in the jail. “A 72 years old man serving a lifetime sentence, came up to me and said that this training was the definite highlight of his 22 years of imprisonment. This is my definite most memorable moment of the workshop”, Said Mr. Ajay Verma, Advocate & Fellow IBJ India.

Friday the 04^th of October was the first day of the workshop and was kicked off with an interactive session, in which the convicts’ knowledge about issues like prisoners’ rights and the right to an effective and speedy trial was mapped. As our previous experience from these kinds of events shows, the inmates usually do not have basic knowledge on these issues. The Superintendent of the Jail, Shri Rakesh Moham, talked about the role of para-legals and prison officers in prison management and reform. Mr. Ajay Verma then talked about IBJ’s work with prisons. The movie “Bol Bosanto” was screened, and followed up with a discussion on the movie’s topic, namely: What is law?

Excercise on client-lawyer relationship made the convicts have fun.

Day one continued with an interactive session, conducted by Mr. Verma (IBJ India) and Mr. Raja Bagga (CHRI). They explained the rights available during trial, and made the convicts share their own experiences. Certain images of court-,policestation-, and jailscenes were shown, and the inmates were asked to explain what they were seeing and to share their own stories with the group. Further, Mr. Verma led a session on the importance of a good client-lawyer relationship. This was done by roleplay exercises, for example, half of the convicts were acting clients and the other half were acting lawyers. They used their own experiences to argue their cases. This activity was conducted to find out what the convicts have gone through and what problems they have faced with their lawyers, problems it is less likely that they would have shared face to face with them. Many convicts do not even talk with their lawyers, which often just take their papers without interacting any further with their client. The activity also made the convicts laugh and have some fun in a, at times, heated discussion between the clients and the lawyers.

Excercise on client-lawyer relationship made the convicts have fun.

The next session on Avadhik Samiksha Samiti was chaired by Shri Mukish, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. Mr. Rakesh Mohan, Superintendent, Jodhpur Prison was also present as co panelist as both persons are ex-officio representatives of the Periodic Review Committee (PRC). The Committee was created in 1979 with the mandate to ensure that the undertrials’ right to freedom is properly ensured. The Committee is supposed to frequently review the situation of every prisoner awaiting trial. It is thought that giving the para-legals information about the PRC will help them understand their larger role in the delivery of justice for other prisoners and explain to them how they in their role as para-legals can assist in strengthening the Committee.        

Written excercises were a significant part of the workshop

The second day was kicked off with an open session, where the convicts came forward and requested Mr. Verma from IBJ India to listen to and take up their cases. The morning session  focused on bail, plea-bargaining, appeal and parole. Exercises were done to equip the para-legals in drafting bail applications, plea bargaining applications, parole and appeals. The convicts were given casestories, and asked to draft bail applications, which were reviewed in plural. Other topics covered on the second day were eligibity, referral authorities and the following-up process.

On the third and last day of the paralegal training, the movie “Pehel” was screened followed by a discussion. The aim was to visualize the structures that would be needed for effective functioning of paralegal work in Jodhpur Central Jail. Also, some time was devoted to talking about bailable offences, under sections 107 and 151 in the Indian Criminal Procedure Code (Cr. P.C.). Under Section 436 states that if a person is not able to furnish bail for a period of one week, and he does not have a surety, according to the section he is supposed to be released on furnishing a personal bond. The objective of the workshop was to train longterm convicts in a way so that their potential resources in jail administration are enabled. The workshop focused on the difficulties faced by those held in pre-trial detention and stressed how longterm convicts can assist them, while at the same time it helped the convicts to gain insight into their own legal rights. We have a very good relationship with the prison authorities in Jodhpur Central Jail and they also requested us to come back for similar events soon. Because of all these things, IBJ India considers the training as very satisfying and is happy to have been a part of it.

Mr. Ajay Verma leading a session on different legal issues.

On Saturday 31^st August, IBJ India conducted yet another successful legal awareness event in New Delhi’s Central Jail No.4 at Tihar Jail housing mostly undertrial prisoners. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness among the inmates on the following topics: effective legal representation, the importance of effective communication with lawyers, plea bargaining and bail.

Approximately 400 inmates from  the newcomer wards attended the event. IBJ`s team was comprised of Mr. Avi Singh Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Mr. Ajay Verma, Advocate (IBJ Fellow in India) and IBJ’s Duty Lawyers working in Tihar Prison Mr. Ajay Raghav, Advocate and Shiv Kumar Dwivedi, which took active sessions during the awareness event. Mr. Ajay Verma gave a short introduction on the selected topics. Mr. Avi Singh, Advocate discussed bail provisions and under what circumstances normally court exercise its discretion to grant bail in non-bailable case. During the session some of the poor inmates mentioned that though the Hon’ble court has granted them bail but they are unable to go out because they can’t furnish surety bond as no one comes to meet them and no one is there to stand surety for them.

Avi Singh’s session was followed by Mr. Ajay Verma’s talk on importance of effective communication with Lawyers. Most of the inmates realized that they don’t event talk to their lawyers, as they believe that the Lawyers would only be interested reading their documents. There were many inmates who did not have lawyers and asked IBJ India’s help in providing Lawyer. Mr. Ajay Raghav and Mr. Shiv Kumar Dwedi, Advocates volunteered to take their case.

After the session the most inmates contributed by asking and sharing problem and sought possible remedies about their cases, and in this way the communication went both ways. In fact, Around 30 people claimed that they had been falsely implicated.

In India there is a big need to inform prisoners of their legal rights, for instance there are many inmates not even aware about their right to free legal representation. The lack of effective representation is a huge problem in India. In the event, some time was devoted to talk about bail and speedy trials, and it became clear that 50-60 people were in need of legal assistance.

Despite the fact that a lot remains to be done, the event held on 31^st August was very successful. To educate inmates about their rights is an important part of IBJ India’s mandate to spread legal awareness in Prisons. The Most rewarding experience for the team was that the Superintendent (In charge of Prison) asked to visit another ward to have another interactive session. Though the team was very happy to visit another ward however due to paucity of time it had to be concluded early. IBJ would again organize another Legal Awareness camp in the same prison. In fact, the prison authorities requested IBJ to continue with these types of events. There are no doubts that the event was another small but important step on the road towards strengthening the legal justice in India.

IBJ India Country Fellow Ajay Verma talks to prisoners

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