DLSA proves a beacon of hope for women, children and LGBTs

The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) — which is providing free legal services to ensure that justice is not denied to the poor and the differently-abled, as well as extending its hand in rescuing, rehabilitating and repatriating the victims of human trafficking — has disposed of a record number of cases and awarded over Rs 300 crore as settlements in Lok Adalats held during 2018-2019 period.

Apart from settling pre-litigation cases, DLSA has been working for the rehabilitation of trans persons, conducting awareness campaigns on LGBT rights, and repartition of Sri Lankan fishermen and trafficked women from South Asian countries, among others. The Authority has been conducting national Lok Adalats, district Lok Adalats, and special Lok Adalats at regular intervals as per the directions from the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

Speaking about the record number of settlements, DLSA secretary I Jayanthi said, “Article 39-A of the Constitution directs the State government to provide equal justice and free legal aid to any citizen who is suffering due to economic reasons or other issues. We are just following the directions from NALSA. On August 16 last year alone, we had disposed of 286 cases and had awarded Rs 9 crore as settlements.”

She added that during the special Lok Adalats, DLSA successfully ensured assistance to the needy in availing education loan or waiving off the repayment. In one such case, DLSA helped to waive off an entire educational loan as the girl student for whom her parents had taken the loan had met with an untimely death. In many other eligible cases, the interest amount was waived off and the principal amount to be repaid was brought down.

According to DLSA’s review report, more than three lakh people have benefitted from their services, including the prisoners. Legal services were provided through legal advice, consultation, drafting and conveyancing. DLSA has also reached out to schools, colleges and universities in the city to create awareness about the laws. 

Likewise, 10 legal clinics were opened to bring in awareness among the students about their rights and the latest laws. Through the legal clinics, more than 8,000 applications were processed and services extended to the needy. The legal clinics also helped many students to get back their certificates from the college authorities who had withheld them to force the students — who were leaving in the middle of an academic year, due to some unavoidable reason — pay the fees for the entire year.

Under the NALSA scheme for Victims of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation, DLSA had conducted awareness camps to rehabilitate LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans persons). It also formed a ‘one-stop crisis centre’ for the rescued victims, which includes sexually-exploited LGBT people,children and women.

At the national level, DLSA Chennai rescued 60 bonded labourers including 41 children from goldsmith units and repatriated them to West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Kerala and the rest of India. Fourteen mentally ill persons were traced and returned to their relatives after receiving a letter from Kerala SLSA. They have also rescued the runaway children from various parts of the country and returned them to their parents.

At the international level, DLSA rescued trafficked women from Bangladesh; helped Sri Lankan fishermen, who were lodged in Puzhal Prison, to return home; repatriate a South African national convicted under NDPS Act and helped solve passport issues of that of the foreign nationals.

DLSA had rehabilitated over 3,000 people, including trans persons, gays, bisexuals and lesbians, and were facing legal issues for involving in sexual activities. Many avenues for their livelihood like tiffin shops, name transfers, sex reassignment surgeries (SRS), transgender card, PAN card and Aadhaar cards were provided through DLSA.

“We have conducted 150 camps on legal literacy, orientation programmes and other functions in schools, colleges and slums. Legal aid clinics at senior citizens’ homes, railway stations and at various places were set up to educate and help the people. We have received appreciation from all quarters of society like the Bangladesh High Commission to DGPs from northeastern states for our repartition works,” said the DLSA secretary.

The camps are being conducted at regular intervals to prevent unorganised workers from getting exploited and to create awareness about various welfare boards. “We aim to protect the people and to render them get justice. We are helping the women who faced domestic violence, sexual harassment, and other exploitation to get justice through our legal aid cell. Children, women and senior citizens are our main target groups, apart from anyone who approaches DLSA for help. For women, there is no income bar in availing free legal assistance, but in the case of others, only those who are not earning Rs 3 lakh or above per annum can avail the free service,” said Jayanthi.

Justice Hariparanthaman, former judge, Madras High Court said, “In Chennai, DLSA is doing good things for the people as far as I know. It has been constituted to offer free legal help to the poor, and that service is being rendered efficiently.” DLSA is also ensuring that the poor and the needy who want to avail its services will not find it difficult to move a petition with it. In fact, a call to 044 25332412 or an email to dlsachennai@gmail.com will ensure DLSA reaching out to the person in distress. 

Senior advocate V Kannadasan, who is also a panel advocate at Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority, said, “Earlier, DLSA used to address the needs of people at the grassroots level. However, everything has changed now. There are issues like appointing advocates for the poor people, who, most often, act as mediators. Even in the case of family disputes, advocates are taking over the mediator role. It should be done by psychiatrists, which is good for the family, unlike in the case of meddling by advocates, who have theirown agenda.”

He said the DLSA should have a systematic approach in accepting the petitions. “DLSA is sometimes overstepping its jurisdiction by accepting petitions from neighbouring districts like Kanchipuram,” said Kannadasan.