LEGAL AID WORKSHOP FOR COMMUNITY WORKERS 16th Nov 2017

A one day workshop (5th Capacity session) was conducted by CSA on the 16^th of November 2017 at Dadar Salvation Church Hall, Mumbai. The topic was legal rights with a specific focus on the Domestic Violence(DV) Act (2005). The resource persons for the workshop Adv. Bharat Kale was an activist & offers legal services, legal awareness trainings and also works at policy level interventions, public interest litigations, etc. The 30 participants were representatives of various Community based organizations. 

The session was very interesting for the participants as most of them knew a thing or two about the DV Act; however, there were still several misconceptions and questions regarding the same which were aptly addressed by Bharat Kale. He spoke about the Rights of a Woman at a Police Station, filing of Zero FIRs, things to keep in mind when filling an FIR, on ways to communicate with the Police, and other small tips that social workers could use in various cases. Also he explained the governing system as well as fundamental & human rights. Although the workshop was a short one the participants felt empowered with more knowledge and information that they could take back to the community and their homes. Feedback from the participants was positive with a stress on more sessions on other laws as well.

Para Legal Literacy on 22/9/16

3^rd Capacity session was conducted by the Center for social action on the 22^nd September 2016 at Salvation Church Dadar. The topic was legal rights with a specific focus on the Domestic Violence Act (2005). The resource persons for the workshop were representatives of the well known organization Majlis. The participants were around 48 representatives of various CBOs and CCO’s. 

They covered following topics :

1.      Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005)

Women  includes – Mother, Daughter, Sister, Mother-in-law, female live-in partner.

2.      A woman cannot file a case of domestic violence against another woman. Hence it has to be against a male person and male family members associated with the abuser.

3.      What is violence- not only physical, verbal , mental abuse. Also depriving food to children,  not providing money for education of children, etc.

4.      When filing an FIR one should take down the name, designation and contact number of the person filling the FIR and also ask for his superior’s name and designation.

5.      A copy of the FIR must be given immediately and free of cost.

6.      If the police is not filing your complaint, you can write your own application, submit it at the inward desk and get a stamp of acknowledgement from the Inward Desk.

7.      If a woman calls 103 in the case of Rape, the Police can go home and record the FIR at home.

8.      You can file an FIR anywhere, irrespective of jurisdiction. This is called a ZERO FIR. This ZERO FIR has to be transferred by the filing police station to the relevant police station within 48 hours.

9.      In the case of Rape or any other sexual offence it is important to get a Medico legal certificate from the Government or Private Hospital. With domestic violence it is better to get the certificate from a Government Hospital.

10.  It is important to preserve case papers/ documentation at the NGO level as such documents can be helpful for a victim at the time of Trial.

   

Under the Dv Act  Protection Officers are appointed. They explained what their duties and responsibilities were and the various initiatives of the State to make these services more accessible to the public. Several trainings and sensitization workshops were also conducted for the Police and other staff to improve their understanding of their responsibilities as representatives of the law enforcement. Also they spoke about the Rights of a Woman at a Police Station, filing of Zero FIRs, things to keep in mind when filling an FIR, how to talk in the language of the Police, and other small tips that social workers could use in various cases. They highlighted 3 main areas of Documentation of cases, Evidence Collection, and Consent terms in the case of dissolving or closing a case. Simple strategies and tips were provided so as to reduce mistakes that would otherwise hurt the client and her case. Although the workshop was a short one the participants felt empowered with more knowledge and information that they could take back to the community and their homes. Feedback from the participants was positive with a stress on more sessions on other laws as well.

The session was very interesting for the participants as most of them knew about the DV Act; however, there were still several misconceptions and questions regarding the same which were aptly addressed by Ms.Sindhu and Farhat.

Basic Cap. Bldg - 3rd Session - Para-Legal Training 22-9-2016

The third basic Capacity Building Session was conducted by CSA on the 22^nd Sept, 2016 at Salvation Kendra, Dadar. The topic was legal rights with a specific focus on the Domestic Violence Act (2005). The resource persons for the workshop were representatives of the well known organization Majlis, which is a legal centre that offers legal services, legal awareness trainings and also work at policy level interventions, PILs, etc. The participants were around 48 representatives of various CBOs and CCO’s. The session was very interesting as the participants knew very little about the DV Act and had quite a few misconceptions as was evident from the questions raised.

 

Ms. Sindhu and Farhat covered the following topics :

1.       Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005)

Women  includes – Mother, Daughter, Sister, Mother-in-law, female live-in partner.

2.       A woman cannot file a case of domestic violence against another woman. Hence it has to be against a male person and male family members associated with the abuser.

3.       What is violence- not only physical, verbal , mental abuse. Also depriving food to children,  not providing money for education of children, etc.

4.       When filing an FIR one should take down the name, designation and contact number of the person filling the FIR and also ask for his superior’s name and designation.

5.       A copy of the FIR must be given immediately and free of cost.

6.       If the police is not filing your complaint, you can write your own application, submit it at the inward desk and get a stamp of acknowledgement from the Inward Desk.

7.       If a woman calls 103 in the case of Rape, the Police can go home and record the FIR at home.

8.       You can file an FIR anywhere, irrespective of jurisdiction. This is called a ZERO FIR. This ZERO FIR has to be transferred by the filing police station to the relevant police station within 48 hours.

9.       In the case of Rape or any other sexual offence it is important to get a Medico legal certificate from the Government or Private Hospital. With domestic violence it is better to get the certificate from a Government Hospital.

10.   It is important to preserve case papers/ documentation at the NGO level as such documents can be helpful for a victim at the time of Trial.

Under the Dv Act  Protection Officers are appointed they explained what their duties and responsibilities were and the various initiatives of the State to make these services more accessible to the public. Several trainings and sensitization workshops were also conducted for the Police and other staff to improve their understanding of their responsibilities as representatives of the law enforcement. Also they spoke about the Rights of a Woman at a Police Station, filing of Zero FIRs, things to keep in mind when filling an FIR, how to talk in the language of the Police, and other small tips that social workers could use in various cases.

They highlighted 3 main areas of Documentation of cases, Evidence Collection, and Consent terms in the case of dissolving or closing a case. Simple strategies and tips were provided so as to reduce mistakes that would otherwise hurt the client and her case. Although the workshop was a short one the participants felt empowered with more knowledge and information that they could take back to the community and their homes. Feedback from the participants was positive with a stress on more sessions on other laws as well.

Mishal Dabre

Senior social worker

CSA

Community based organisation, Mobilization and SHG Formation 11-8-2016

On 11^th August 2016, 2nd Capacity building session was held at Dadar. The topic was community based organization, Mobilization and SHG formation.

CSA staff, Ms.  Mishal Dabre was the Resource person. There were 66 participants who were present  from various community centres.

She covered the following topics using different activities, group discussion and role play. 

They are as follows:

Definition, objective, methodology, process and SHG formation and documentation.

The objectives of CBO are to:
1. Establish community based institutes for sustainable community development.
2. Develop capacity of community to manage their development projects.
 Ensure community participation/involvement and thus ownership.

Community organization is known to lead to greater understanding of community context, and is characterized by community planning, community action and mobilization, the promotion of community change and ultimately influence within the  larger systems.

The participants actively participated and had an enriching session.