More Questions...

I was told by a few regular readers of my rants said that the last post seemed like one of the Tamizh mega serials- where at the end of an episode, at a critical juncture- it says thodarum (to be continued) and then had disappeared for a while. So, here goes.

As Gow has pointed out in the previous post, the 2^nd day was quite interesting and so were the 3^rd and the 4^th for that matter. As listing out the topics we addressed seems rather repetitive, I’ll just list out a few questions and general comments.

One of the things that hit me the most was the kind of questions. They were testimony to the fact that they thought about the law- in ways very different from how many of us did. All these questions were asked in earnest and from a very practical standpoint. I am translating some of them from Tamizh and hope it conveys atleast half as much in English.

1. Sometimes we have heard that 3 or 5 judges decide a case and one of them writes against what the other 4 write. What’s the point of this dissent? Is there any value at all?
2. Can a lower court judge be punished for deciding a case wrongly if his decision is reversed on appeal?
3. Isn’t it a fact that a lawyer’s job is to establish the truth? If so when a criminal comes to him and confesses about a crime, shouldn’t he report the matter immediately?
4. Why is it that we hear no instance of a lawyer being made to pay compensation for wrong advice?
5. Can I send a FIR through registered post in case they refuse to give me an acknowledgement?
6. Are Panchayat decisions banned? Why does the court discourage it?
7. Isn’t it ridiculous that if someone is taken into custody and not produced in front of a Magistrate within 24 hours, I have to go all the way to Madras to the HC to secure the writ of habeas corpus? Why do I have to spend money to do something that must happen as a matter of right? How does it matter if my costs are ordered later on? I might not have money even then and you think I can be running around to get legal aid at that moment? Talk some sense!
8. The police DO NOT register my FIR…unless I use all possible presurre. You live in an Utopian world if you tell me it’s my right. Its not.
9. Some employers don’t recruit people against whom an FIR is filed. So anyone can use this to give me trouble? Again, how can I run around to court fighting for my right to equality when my immediate job is important? Maybe they must think before they register it?
10. It all depends on which political party you belong to at the end of the day- for anything to happen in this state.

I leave it at this for now. I hope some of you would tell me what answers you would have given. Meanwhile, I will continue with more on why this trip proved that law in the abstract is not interesting at al, but associating law with real people to whom it makes a difference is what makes it real :)

Day-2

The matador halted at the courtyard of the farm house where I was staying . Sixteen men within the age group of 40 to 60 stepped out of the matador. Khulali and I had just got ready after we got up from a deep sleep. Day one was quite tiring, the bus trip to Tiruvanmiyur, the car journey to the farm and the impressive bike journey to Madhur and back, then the preparation for the LLP the next day, till 2 in the night, induced such good sleep, something that I didn’t have for a long time.

Sixteen men marched into the well-equipped training centre of CIKS at the Sukkankollai farm. Having done a good number of LLP’s, there was no nervousness or any sort of hesitation to get onto the stage and get started. An hour of talking by Khulali and me on the difference between civil and criminal law, structure of courts, FIR, COPRA, RTI was followed by a tea break and a question – answer session for another hour. In the first hour, the apt attention from most of them motivated both of us to do a better job. The question answer hour was also quite satisfactory as they were willing to try and use the laws and the cynicism that we encounter generally was quite low. One possible reason could be the fact that, we did not portray law as the panacea for all their trouble. I am sure Prof Nagaraj will be happy that we spoke about ADR methods and the need to not approach the court when talking with each other could solve the problem.

At the end just before lunch, which was delicious, the farmers thanked us and as usual I was in cloud nine :)

The lunch got to be mentioned again, it was good organic food, and absolutely sumptuous- another good sleep inducer apart from a day’s hard work.

Gowthaman.

On the Organic Trail- Day-1 Madhur Village, Achirupakkam Taluk, Kancheepuram District

If something is meant to happen- it will somehow happen, however hard you try to avert it. What the last few days has turned out like, is testimony to the above prophecy. A month back I called up the programme co-coordinator , who also happened to be a good friend of mine at this organization called the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS) and told him that these vacations, I wanted to spend some time in the rural areas and I did not want to do any law related work. He gave me a few options as to which NGOs or groups I could tag along with and the conversation ended there. Then a week later he sent me what was a very professionally done “program schedule” and said- there was no need to visit any other NGO when the CIKS option existed and said that I could travel to various of their field offices and visit farms, temples in the area but also do a few legal literacy programmes for some farmer groups. To quote from the Godfather, it was an offer I could not refuse and hence…

As this is not the forum to talk about the miracle that is organic farming, I will leave that to another place. For the keen ones- http://www.ciks.org/ gives all the information you need about the work this organization does.

So yesterday evening we set out to Madhur Village near Melmaruvathur on two motor bikes- Gow and me the happy pillion riders. Oh..I forgot to mention Gow the ever enthusiastic LSC PR person :) We reached the village by 7:50 and the people had already gathered. The first 45 minutes were spent in discussing farming and we were curious on lookers and then the usual embarrassing introductions followed- “Students from India’s No.1 law college..etc.etc”. We weren’t really prepared and since there was not much time, we decided to make it a question answer session after given them a quick session on RTI.

The questions which followed covered a wide spectrum of issues. Validity of a will, insurance claims and hire-purchase agreements, indignant people who couldn’t understand why women were coparceners under the new amendment, whether someone could get a patta under a different name when the title deed was under a different name! The important realization of the day was the potential power of RTI. Many of the queries centered around non-sanction of loans, arbitrary reasons given by the officials of the same, demand of money in excess of what is officially prescribed and so on. And for someone who has been involved in such things for a few years now, the two heartening lessons were that the cynicism regarding institutions dispensing justice had not yet set in very deep into the psyche and the villagers seemed inclined to put these laws into use and derive results. The fact that they were organized groups seemed to give them more resolve and strength.

We began the journey back on the bikes with several jumbled thoughts. Had we helped in any way? Is the “law” as we understand it, something alien to them and does it work contrary to the traditional dispute resolution mechanisms that exist within their communities? An hour was too short a time to find answers to these deeper questions in life. Little did I realize that the very next day had answers for many of these.

LSC is on air

Most Radio Indigo listeners will remember September 2007 as a month during which they woke up to rain and traffic jams every single morning. Every morning? Not really. Not if you count Friday the14^th. Because that was the day the Legal Services Clinic was interviewed by Cindu on the very popular breakfast show. As I sat listening, starting 9 O’clock, in Munnabhai style, four LSC addicts – Convener (PB), Honorary lifetime convenor (AG), PR manager (GR) and Legal Adviser (VNM), set the airwaves abuzz as they discussed LSC activities and their experiences with LSC. They told the people how they were surprised by the low levels of legal awareness even among the IT crowd. They told the viewers about the interesting experiences they had in the course of LSC duty. One interesting section was when they told the viewers how to file an FIR.

Thalaivi then delivered the dialogue of the day when she said how she likes LSC because law in the abstract does not appeal to her but associating law with real people to whom it makes a difference and brings about a positive change in their lives makes her happy.

- Vikram

How often do you get to sit on siezed property?

The LSC team, in this case consisting of the Thalaivi and the token diga, went to Sriram Upahar and had a meal fit for a king. This was the first time I had hoLige in a hotel. If it was any other day that would have been the high point of the day, but today was not to be everyday.

I shall leave the funky writing to the thalaivi, and write as a good automaton should. As part of a project to review the working and administration of trial courts, we were to collect data from the city civil court in Bangalore.Monday being a holiday for NLS, we utilised the opportunity to visit the court and get a general overview of the project.

We first went to the Registrar, who was very helpful and had already known that the students from NLS would be visiting.He first took us to the receiving section of the new cases, which was way better than I had expected.

With regards OS suits, one may file a plaint in the relevant counter and pay the requisite court fee. Depending on the prayer, the nature of the suit is determined, whether it is an injunction etc. And depending upon the valuation of the suit, the fee is determined. As soon as it is filed, it is given a Filing Register (FR) number. This is the unexpectedly brilliant aspect of this court according to me - The case goes to court on the same day the plaint is received in the receiving office provided the plaint is filed before 1:00 PM. Plaints filed after 1:00 PM will go for the hearing the very next day.

That was the unbelievable part. I was in dream mode through lunch and through the initial stage of the walk through of the chief metropolitan magistrates court, till one of the assistants there finally said “we had an enquiry section; we closed it down due to staff shortage”. Then going through the run down property section (how often are you offered seized property to sit on?) and just before that, going through pending section of courts, separated from the actual court hall by cupboards, fodder for our study was sitting right there.

I have taken out many evil parts of this entry. Interested parties can contact me for the uncensored version.

Walking through these places I felt the thrill of seeing something most normal people don’t get to see. Looking forward to a big project and tonnes of fun in these very courts, I send this to Thalaivi who will post it on the blog.

-Vikram

Yel Yel P

Its one and a half months into the new academic year and I thought it was time to look back a little. I still remember that day in my first year-the famous law school "SBA Orientation". They all came, one after another and said why their committee was the coolest place to be in. The LSC team also came- I listened and said to myself "that seems like a nice place to be". I have never since regretted the decision made that day. And for the past two years, have been racking my brains to see how to portray LSC as an activity which all first years will want to try doing atleast once. I think we have done reasonably well- if the 1st year turn out for our trips and LLPs are any indication, we certainly have. I hope some of them are here to stay...through a good part of their law school life.

Its interesting to note how I see my role within LSC changing every year. From being awe struck at how those seniors played the battered wife and the 10th std. girl roles so well, it has come to telling a bunch of curious and amused 1st years how they are supposed to be over dramatic and cut their hands and apply the tilak and then explain how thats not a valid way of getting married. They all look amused and doubtful as to how this silly skit would work. But when they actually see the audience reacting to it and enjoying it and making a difference , all of them are happy. And how many ever times I explain the law, use the same old examples again and again- each LLP seems to have its own distinct character with the only common thread being that it makes your day and has the ability to pull you out of the dumps- however deep the dump might be. And today was no exception to the rule :)

Khulali.

A Riot Magnet

Call it pure coincidence or do a field study and come up with some analytical report about how socio-economic forces have caused people to resort to be more than vocal with their protests and how I happen to be in the vicinity since I’m too dumb to stay away, fact remains that I’ve begun to feel a bit like a war reporter. Anybody would, if they happened to be on the ground zero of four fairly violent riots in the span of a little more than two months.

The experience has undergone a transition from scary to funny to pissing off. Every burning bus or window being smashed is more routine now than Déjà vu.

It started in late January this year when with two friends and safely inside a car I passed through an area of town which had just been the centre of communal riots. The excuse in this case was a protest against the hanging of Saddam.

Then in mid February it started again when the Cauvery tribunal came out with its decision, first in Mysore and then in Bangalore I got a taste of it when buses I frequently travelled in and glass facades of buildings I passed every day were destroyed and later when I heard/read about these incidents I realised I had been dangerously close to these incidents when they were going on.

The last one happened on the last day of March, in Mysore where again I was witness to window panes of buses being shattered for almost no reason at all.

When I witnessed the same thing in 2004 an year before I discovered LSC I had seen the incident as nothing more than a few bandanna-wearing youth destroying public property. Perhaps it is the LSC effect or just the Law School effect that I now see this as part of a larger social issue.

- VikramA