The Right to Read Campaign

Imagine yourself in a world without books, the pain of living like that. This campaign is all about me and the 700 million other people who are denied the ‘right to read’.

– Moiz, 5th year, LLB, NUJS

On 7th November, 2009, NUJS became the venue for the Right to Read campaign that seeks to accelerate change in copyright law and raise public awareness on the issue of access to reading for the print impaired.

The panel discussion that marked the beginning of the campaign was moderated by Dr. Shamnad Basheer, IPR chair, NUJS. He introduced the four panelists and topic: Copyright laws and access to read for the print impaired He also announced the measures that NUJS would be taking for making legal education inclusive like setting CLAT paper access to all differentially-abled and providing free education for the deserving students.

Dr. S.S. Roy steered the discussions in the right directions by pointing out the economic constrains faced by NGOs and others who work with the print impaired and the largescale implementation failure of the existing laws for the print impaired.

Dr. S. Patnaik from the School for Blind explained the violation of copyright law in the process of conversion of books in Braille form, inability in understanding of many available audio records due to the difference in accents, etc. He recommended an amendment in copyright law.

The 3rd panelist, Ms Chandrima Bhattacharya from the Telegraph offered media support for the campaign.

Dr. Rukmini Sen, Asst. Professor, NUJS, suggested an amendment to the Protection of Disabilities Act, 1995 that would broaden the definition of access so as to include access to all kinds of information (educational, literary, etc). She also supported the amendment of Copyright law and referred to the UN Convention on the Blind… of which India is a signatory.

After the panel discussion, the stage was set for comments and inputs from the supporters, the audience, was vehemently insistent on public action to make more books and atleast one newspaper available in Braille form.

Rahul Cherian, one of the co-founders of Inclusive Planet, an organization that has spearheaded the collection of more than 10000 books that are compatible for the visually challenged and put them up in their website ‘Bookbole’, urged for more support for the cause

The campaign ended by enlightening many and opening a new world of words for many more.

Legal Aid Street Plays

The Legal Aid Society organized three Street Plays to raise awareness about important issues. The play staged at Parinati (a city based NGO) highlighted aspects relating to disability while two other plays staged at Chandanagore and Machlandpur dealt with women’s rights. Minor inconveniences like a bust diesel tank on the crew bus failed to deter our intrepid thespians as they wooed the crowd with their consummate art. The plays were also notable for the presence of two LLM students, and several non-Bengali speaking (as well as non-Bengali-understanding) students who managed to deliver their lines in flawless Bong.

Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat at NUJS

The concept of Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat (PMLA) has been evolved by the National Commission for Women (NCW) to supplement the efforts of the District Legal Service Authority for redressal and speedy disposal of matters pending in various courts related to marriage and family affairs. Other advantages of the PMLA are that it is cheaper, it helps encourage the public to settle their disputes outside the formal set-up, it empowers the public (especially women) to participate in the justice delivery mechanism, and ideally, cases are amicably settled by the parties in a harmonious atmosphere. Interestingly, an award of the Lok Adalat has the same force as a decree by a Court of Law.

NUJS was the venue for a recent session of the PMLA, held on 7^th November 2008. This was actually the second time that NUJS hosted the PMLA, the first being way back in 2003. The event was efficiently and enthusiastically conducted by the Legal Aid Society, NUJS.

But NUJS students’ involvement was not restricted only to the event itself: research assistants from the University assisted in preparing brief case histories. In the weeks leading up to the event, they compiled files consisting of applications, relevant facts, findings of the Commission, etc., and in some cases even suggested remedies.

On the day of the event, proceedings commenced with a protracted inauguration session. Justice (Retd.) Ruma Pal, Malini Bhattacharya (Chairperson, NCW), and Prof. M.P. Singh (Vice-Chancellor, NUJS) were the guests of honour. They discussed the role of the NCW and praised PMLA as an effective and desirable way of settling disputes.

The proceedings themselves were fraught with interest. Retired trial court judges, NCW members and social activists sat in as judges in the four “courtrooms”. The cases scheduled for the day were mostly related to maintenance and Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. There was also the occasional mutual consent divorce case up for hearing. One unusual case involved a daughter who was filing a case against her parents for discriminatory treatment as against her brother.

The informal and amicable nature of proceedings was highlighted when, in a particular dispute, one party had an advocate who tried to plead the case, but the judges disapproved. They observed that PMLA was meant to be simple informal, not fraught with legal technicality.

In another case related to maintenance, the husband had initially said he could give no maintenance because he was unemployed, and later agreed to a figure of only Rs. 300. Judges, naturally dissatisfied with the paltry amount, were about to record a finding of non-disposal of the case, when at the very last moment the husband agreed to a figure of Rs. 1000. The case thus ended happily for all concerned.

There were even some lighter moments, such as when a certain Judge spilled tea over an order sheet.

The delegates from NCW professed themselves by and large satisfied with the arrangements and expressed their gratitude to the college for providing the venue. At the end of the day, pretty much everyone went home happy, except possibly some of the volunteers from college who did not get non vegetarian food packets. But then, nothing ever works out perfectly.

(With inputs from Shayonee Dasgupta)