My experience with Lok Adalat Session for PLHIV in Calcutta

[Guest guest]

Lok Adalat Session for PLHIV in Calcutta

Dear Colleagues, Friends

I got an opportunity to attend a Lok Adalat (fast track court)

session in Calcutta yesterday (November 27) at the Bankshall Court

(City Sessions Court), Bichar Bhawan. It appears that the National

Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been directed to organize

special sessions through their state and district level chapters for

people who face discrimination on grounds of their health status.

In the past couple of months, different districts in West Bengal have

had three or four such sessions, where the complainants included

people affected by arsenic, leprosy and HIV (among other health

problems as well). But there were no arrangements for confidential

sharing of problems with the judges and note takers. And the district

level authorities thought nothing of inviting media persons to these

sessions, though some of them had the sense to not mention names in

their reports. Apparently, NALSA are under considerable pressure to

show action and numbers of cases disposed off, and so such niceties

as confidentiality are not much of an issue.

Consequently, very few PLHIV (compared to those with other health

concerns) wanted to or were able to present their cases. Fortunately,

after much persuasion by West Bengal Project Support Unit, the

technical associates of West Bengal State AIDS Prevention & Control

Society, the Calcutta chapter of NALSA agreed to organize a separate

session for PLHIV. There was scope to sit separately with judges and

narrate personal stories or those of one's friends or family members.

Here again, the attitudes of some of the judges was quite a let down.

Some of them insisted on knowing how somebody had got HIV, or if an

HIV positive woman's husband did not have HIV, then whom did she have

sexual relations with! There was also a remarkable lack of patience

in trying to understand what the complainant was trying to say. Some

of this may have happened because of a language barrier (Hindi

speaking complainant and a Bengali judge), but too often people

accompanying the associates had to interject and explain the

situation. Failing which many complainants would have become further

confused or completely tongue tied.

Good intentions, but there seem to be a lot of problems in the

invitation process itself for these sessions. People were not told

that cases of discrimination occuring only in the last two months

would be entertained. When MANAS Bangla and SAATHII presented written

documents with regard to an incident of medical negligence in NRS

Medical College in December 2005 and subsequent problems in the next

few months, we were told that it was a " dead case " . Which also raises

the larger question - how come the doctor who refused to treat not be

penalised even if some time has gone by since the incident? What if

the people victimised had no access to legal recourse at the time of

the incident? Are they to not have any opportunity for a legal remedy?

There were a number of NGOs present at the session - SPARSHA, Bhoruka

Public Welfare Trust, Sanlaap, Astitva, Amitie', Swikriti, MANAS

Bangla and SAATHII - none of us were sent any written information

about the session. Only phone calls were made, which lead to

considerable confusion about the scope of the session. Had it not

been for WBPSU and SPARSHA, we in SAATHII wouldn't even have heard

about the session. Thanks to both organizations for sharing the

information. Fortunately, the media also didn't seem to know about

yesterday's session!

All in all, an educative experience. I'm wondering if lesbian, gay,

bisexual and transgender folks should consider using these facilities

for disposal of at least some matters.

It just might be possible to get a patient hearing for issues like

forcible confinement, denial of health services and certain other

health concerns. Given the atmosphere of the sessions, this could be

a scary thought, but for those engaged in advocacy, these sessions

seem to make the judges quite easy to access. We were told that help

can also be sought by visiting the offices of the legal services

authority.

Interestingly, in West Bengal, and in some other states, there is a

parallel non-government legal aid service. In West Bengal, there is

LASWEB, which actually predates the government instituted legal

services authority. And according to some people, the success of

these non-government legal aid services is what prompted the

government to start its own service. The difference lies in the

emphasis on " outside the court legal aid " in the non-government

service compared to " court based solutions " in the government service.

It is important for us to build links with both services. In my

limited experience, attitudes might be better in the non-government

service towards issues of gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS but

knowledge dissemination is needed in both.

Thank you for reading this long message, if you did.

Regards

Pawan Dhall

SAATHII

e-mail: saathii (DOT) com / pawan30 (DOT) com

www.saathii. org