Law Club Report 2020-2021

HUMAN RIGHTS CLUB 2020-2021

• Importance of constituting the Club

Human rights are standards that recognize and protect the dignity of all human beings. They govern the existence of human beings in society and with each other, as well as their relationship with the State and the obligations that the State have towards them. Individuals also have responsibilities wherein they must respect the rights of others. Government, group or individual person cannot violate others rights. Human rights aim to deter civil unrest through the creation of a wide range of socio-economic opportunities, as well as a sense of belonging to the nation itself and in a way contribute to the process of nation-building.

• Objectives of the Club

1. To organise talks and discussions so as to nurture and restore moral and ethical values of the students that would contribute in building a constructive society.
2. To conduct webinars / seminars so as to promote innovation, peace, equal opportunities and justification amongst individuals.
3. To design courses through means of curriculum that would enrich the student’s humanistic knowledge in myriad fields.

• Membership Drive

Club membership was open from 25th – 28th September 2020, for 4 th Year B.A.LL.B. and S.Y LL.B. Degree students as the said classes have Human Rights as a subject in curriculum. Being admist pandemic, notices were circulated via whatsapp. Google forms were sent to respective classes.

• Activities conducted

1. State level Webinar on ‘Emerging issues concerning women and children’s challenges, developments and a way forward’.
   On 20th October 2020, the Human Rights Club of V.M. Salgaocar College of Law (VMSCL) in association with Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN – GOA) organised a state level webinar titled ‘Emerging issues concerning women and children’s challenges, developments and a way forward’. The webinar constituted paper presentations followed by a panel discussion. District and Assistant Sessions Judge, North Goa, Miss. Pooja C Kavlekar presented a paper on ‘Admissibility of electronic evidence in cyber-crimes against women and children’ wherein she discussed the issue of admissibility of electronic evidence in crimes such as child pornography, online child abuse, online stalking, cyber stalking, etc. During the course of presentation, she also made a mention of cyber defamation and morphing as emerging issues that are of increasing concern and require immediate redressal.

   Assistant Professor (Law) at VMSCL, Ms. Shruti Kamat Dalal also presented a paper titled ‘Roadmap of elementary education for HIV/AIDS children in India’. She expressed concern on the plight of this neglected section of society in availing of the benefit of reservation in private schools and central government schools under RTE legislation. She also suggested urgent attention of government and monitoring bodies for immediate action.

   The panellists for the panel discussion constituted the following esteemed dignitaries:

   Member Secretary of Goa State Legal Services Authority, Mrs. Sayonara Telles Laad,

   Psychologist and Project Lead, Sangath (Goa and Pune), Ms. Prachi Khandeparkar and;

   Co-founder of SCAN-Goa, Adv. Emidio Pinho.

   At this webinar, Mrs. Laad mentioned that legal services institutions have created awareness even during pandemic times by reaching out to the victims in need of help. Added to this, even paralegal volunteers counsel the victims, assist victims by drafting their applications and sort out their issues. Various insightful suggestions were given by Adv. Emidio such as ensuring safety of women and children including sex education to be imparted to children from class five; convergence between law enforcement agencies; implementation of ICPS scheme and compensation by government and functioning of DCUPs under the Juvenile Justice Act; protection policy for all institutions catering to children and women; regular burnout session cum awareness session for police, public prosecutors, doctors and other stake holders; mandatory reporting for all stakeholders and accountability of all working for this vulnerable group and so on.

   Ms. Prachi Khandeparkar gave tips to handle young children and also school-going children and adolescents. From the parents’ point of view, she mentioned that healthy parenting and communication, engaging in interactive play activities, practicing mental health hygiene, maintains consistent routine, promoting health behaviour, praise good behaviours, being positive role models and practising adaptive coping is a must. The discussion was moderated by Assistant Professor (Law), VMSCL, Miss. Ameya Nayak. The webinar was conducted online via Google Meet and provided an interactive interface for the participants to raise their questions.

2. State level Webinar on Gender Sensitisation.
   On 23rd November 2020, the Human Rights Club of VMSCL, Miramar in collaboration with
   Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN – Goa) and in association with Goa Rainbow Trust, a non-profit
   organisation working for the LGBTQIA+ community, organised a webinar on ‘Contemporary Issues concerning Transgenders: Challenges, Evolution and the Path Ahead’. Since The National Education Policy 2020 lays emphasis on inclusive education with the sole objective to provide equitable quality education to marginalised, disadvantaged and underrepresented groups, this webinar was conducted with the vision of creating gender sensitization and to count the third gender that lags behind on the human development indices of education.

   Associate Professor at the Goa Institute of Management, Miss. Anamika Sinha delivered the keynote address at the said webinar wherein she stated that despite the Transgender Persons Protection of rights Act (TPA), due to bureaucratic gray zones, the community has struggled for continued income, mental and physical health, and privacy during care and has been socially ostracised. She concluded by saying, “For a true social change, law and society members in power must liaise and create a voice.

   ”The said webinar also consisted of a paper presentation wherein Assistant Professor (Law) at VMSCL, Miss. Shruti Kamat Dalal in her paper titled ‘Transgender Children’s Right to Elementary Education: Resistance and Change’ stated that the country eagerly awaits the Supreme Court’s implementation of the directives given in NALSA judgment of 2014 where the government would take steps to categorise transgender children as socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and extend all kinds of reservation in cases of admission in educational institutions. A Panellist at the panel discussion, Adv. Emidio Pinho added that their organisation SCAN is working to create an inclusive environment but lacks support from the community, and the mindset of society has to change.

   Co-founder and Chairman of Goa Rainbow Trust, Francis Fernandes mentioned misconceptions that cross the minds of transgenders, especially in case of children when they are unable to identify their gender and this is the time they may experience gender dysphoria. CEO and Founder of Goa Rainbow Trust, Chris Fernandes who is a trans person expressed discontent over the misuse of pronoun. He added that it takes a lot to undergo the medical process of transition and in this process of the journey they face gender incongruence, battling between gender assigned and gender identified.

   Trustee of Goa Rainbow Trust, Nishica Gomes shared her experience of working in the past and present in the state of Tamil Nadu. She stated that there is lot of awareness as to inclusion and acceptance of transgender community in Tamil Nadu as compared to Goa. Citing the example of Kerala, she stated that other states in India have to adopt the monitoring mechanism for execution of their policy framework structured, designed and implemented by Kerala in order to uplift the community. The panel discussion at the webinar that was conducted online via Google Meet was moderated by Assistant Professor (Law) at VMSCL, Miss. Ameya Nayak and was attended by more than 90 individuals.

3. Attendees
   The participants included students, faculty, NGO, members from Judiciary and others.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW CLUB 2020-2021

Webinar on JUDICIARY @71 COURTS AS GOOD GOVERNANCE, 16 TH JUNE 2021

This informative seminar in the subject area of Constitution organised by the Constitutional law Club was organised on 16th June 2021 . It began as scheduled on time at 4.00pm.Senior Advocate Cleofato Almeida Coutinho was the Guest Speaker.

The webinar was attended by 56 members including members of Club.Yash naik introduced the Speaker and welcomed the gathering. Adv. Coutinho spoke about Indian law , court functioning and stated that the judiciary is the most powerful institution on this earth. Further, he stated that today courts not only make laws but raise questions to the government regarding policies and seek their justification.

Sir later explained how after two and half years of independence the supreme court became a protector of fundamental rights in India by giving various leading case laws. He also spoke about some of the provisions in the constitution that need clarity and why transparency and accountability is needed in government and human rights.

He highlighted recent Supreme court and high court verdicts regarding the oxygen shortage issue in this pandemic and explained how it played a crucial role in instructing state governments to handle the situation. After the speaker ended the session it was followed by a question and answer session which was conducted by Yash where many participants from the audience participate and asked various questions which Adv. Coutinho answered in lucid manner. The program was conducted smoothly and ended at 5.15 PM with the vote of thanks by Shivani Gaonker.