Marking A Year Since The Inception, Two Novel Initiatives Of The Kerala High Court Legal Services Committee Prove Their Success

• Addressing Matrimonial Woes – The Family Counselling Centre (FCC)
  

On March 15, 2023, the Family Counselling Centre, which is the first of its kind in the country, would mark one year since its functioning. The FCC, which is a facility under the aegis of Kerala High Court Legal Services Committee (KHCLSC), had been formally inaugurated by the Chief Justice, High Court of Kerala S. Manikumar, on October 26, 2022, although it had been functioning on an experimental basis since March, 2022.

The FCC is an initiative of Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque of the Kerala High Court, who is also the Chairman of Kerala High Court Legal Services Committee, and is intended to help litigants in matrimonial and allied matters to address their emotional needs and to help and guide them to reach a logical conclusion to their protracted litigations.

The FCC guidelines have been framed under the guidance of Justice C.S. Dias.

The Core Objectives of the FCC include rendering emotional support and guidance to the litigants; enabling litigants to retrospect and identify their emotional disorders if any and guide them to resolve it with sobriety and to take mature decisions; assisting litigants to seek intense psychotherapy/ counselling or medical support if necessary to address their mental health status on reference from the counsellor; enabling the litigants to attain holistic solution to their issues and rapprochement of their family by extending counselling to their family members if found necessary; and finally, equipping the litigants with enhanced life skills.

Within one year of its functioning, it is heartening to note that the FCC has dealt with more than 200 cases.

The FCC renders counselling for cases that have been referred from the High Court, and all family courts, district judiciary, District Legal Services Committees in the Pre-Litigation Petitions registered with it, and mediation centres across the State. The Monitoring of the functioning of FCC has been outsourced to Kerala Federation of women lawyers by the KHCLSC.

With six counsellors, two clinical psychologists, and a child psychologist-cum-psychiatrist, the FCC functions from 10:00A.M. till 4:30 P.M. from Monday to Saturday. The matters in which the presiding officer and mediators feel that counselling would help the litigants to take appropriate decisions are referred to the FCC for professional counselling.

The Secretary of the Kerala High Court Legal Services Committee or any officer authorised by the Chairman of the KHCLSC is the Nodal Officer of the facility. The Nodal Officer, with the support of and in consultation with the Co-ordinator nominated by the Kerala Federation of Women Lawyers shall receive the reference and maintain the correspondence from or with the High Court of Kerala, Subordinate courts and mediation centres, categorize and schedule the references and allot it to counsellors at FCC. The Nodal Officer shall also prepare a short note of relevant details of the case and the parties to be given to the counsellors while allotting the parties/cases to them. The Nodal Officer shall also ensure on referring a case to a counsellor that the same counsellor continues to deal with the case/counsel the parties, till the end. The Counsellors on their part, are obliged to maintain utmost confidentiality.

The counselling facility can be availed either offline or through the online platform on Google Meet. Offline counselling in FCC will take place on six working days in a week, and a counsellor shall be assigned for each day of the week. Online counselling can take place any time decided by the counsellor and the parties concerned after considering their convenience and time zone pattern in case of parties residing abroad. A counsellor shall be assigned for each day of the week.

A website for the FCC is also being developed currently. There is also a mail ID and a mobile phone number which would be handled by the Nodal officer of FCC.

The FCC functions on the ground floor of Niyama Sahaya Bhavan in the High Court precincts.

• Equipping Victims To Overcome Adversities - The Victim Rights Centre (VRC)

Although it has not had any formal inauguration yet, the Victim Rights Centre (VRC) has been functioning since October 2021. Conceived and initiated by Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque in his capacity as the Chairman of the Kerala High Court Legal Services Committee (KHCLSC), the VRC is a platform to ensure access to justice and fair treatment of victims. Since the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987, required that the Project be handled by the Kerala Legal Services Authority (KeLSA) directly, it was accordingly, handed over to KeLSA, and brought to fruition under its aegis. Justice K. Vinod Chandran, the Chairman of KeLSA, has effectively taken the Project forward. Justice Vinod Chandran also introduced the Project to the District Legal Service Authorities (DLSAs) of the State. The Officers were sensitized and requested to emotionally invest in the Project, particularly while dealing with the victims.

Unlike the traditional/narrow notion of the term ‘victim’, the VRC perceives victims from a sociological perspective. It defines the term as including any woman, child, or transwoman who has suffered any loss or injury – whether physical, emotional or economic by reason of an act or omission that is in violation of the Laws of the Land. Such child/woman/transwoman may belong to one or more of the following categories, namely:

1. sexual and ethnic minorities;
2. notified Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes in Kerala; and/or
3. woman convict, under trial prisoner including those remanded in prisons/jails of Kerala;
4. child in need of care and protection and/or in conflict with law under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015; and
5. child who is living with the woman prisoner in prisons/jails in Kerala and includes not only direct victim of crimes but also his/her/their immediate family, kith and kin.

VRC thus strives to reach out to such ‘victims of circumstances’. It thus seeks to provide a safe, healthy, empowering, and inspirational environment for victims of recognized offences, and of circumstances, by providing them legal, emotional and sociological support with an aim to equip the survivor to overcome their adversities and go on with their lives.

The Member Secretary, KeLSA, is in charge of the VRC Project, followed by the Project Coordinator. The four other limbs of the VRC, include Pro-bono women lawyers who are 55 in number at present; NGOs that have been approved by KeLSA, and Government support machinery such as SAKHI and One Stop Centre; the Police; and the Women’s Commission. Law students from five law colleges in the Ernakulam District, and ten psychology students from St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam, are also part of VRC. It has a panel of women lawyers in each district under DLSAs and TLSAs to render effective legal assistance.

The Core Objectives of the VRC include promoting Victims’ Rights Information in the society; addressing legal necessities of the victims with the help of KeLSA, DLSAs and TLSAs; addressing the health concerns of survivors of violence by providing health and medical care, community and social support, and a conducive environment; providing psychological support with the help of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists with the help of the Amicus Curiae appointed by the High Court; and initiating litigations for proper execution of existing laws and/or for enunciating necessary legislations to fill up the lacunae in the existing law for effective, practical redressal of grievances.

On receipt of an oral/written complaint to the VRC, it makes a preliminary enquiry to ascertain the genuineness of the complaint, and then decides upon the procedure to be adopted. If a police complaint is to be registered, professional assistance can be rendered by VRC, and if the victim requires immediate shelter, VRC can coordinate with NGOs and CBOs. The primary duty of the VRC is thus, to ensure that right assistance is afforded depending on each concern. It can also identify the needs and issues of children of each district and can assist in taking remedial measures to protect the State’s children, through regular meetings with the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Juvenile Justice Board and Child Protection Units in each district.

Since October 2021 until December 31, 2022, the VRC has been able to carry out several interventions in aiding victims.

Activities of the VRC

The two major initiatives of the VRC are the Mentorship Scheme for Women Convicts, and the Sexual Assault Survivor Scheme.

1. Mentorship Scheme for Women Convicts and Children Living with Them

The mentorship of women convicts by the VRC has been carried out successfully since October 2021, although it had never been officially inaugurated. A team comprising two lawyers, a social worker, and a psychologist and psychologist attached to the NGO, 2 law students and a psychology student ably assisted and guided by senior faculties in psychology, visits the women convicts in prisons and renders the necessary legal, emotional, or psychological assistance. The mentorship can be done either offline or in the online mode.

Through the Scheme, the VRC monitors the personal case details and progression of cases of each inmate in the prison, and also the cases where bail has not been executed and monitors whether women prisoners are released on parole and probation to which they are entitled to. It also initiates necessary measures for redressal of grievances of foreign national/ immigrant women prisoners by appraising them of the nature of cases registered against them and the available legal remedies for them in the language familiar to them if required with the help of translators and help them access free legal aid, contacts with their respective embassy/consulate and with their family members through mobile video calls.

Through the Scheme, the care and medical attention received by the prisoners, their health conditions, personal requirements, are also monitored. It also aims to provide intense psychotherapy to those who have extreme conduct disorders and behavioural aberrations.

Regular contact with the family members and friends of such convicts is also sought to be ensured, and in turn, through inclusive counselling, such family and friends are prepared to receive the convict back with love and positive acceptance. VRC also strives to help the women convicts revive their talent/skill and build confidence to face crowd, and to continue their education, and help them prepare for competitive examinations.

The first ever instance addressed by the Team of VRC was regarding an under-trial prisoner, a young migrant lady who had been remanded for offence under s. 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act. KeLSA, upon report prepared by the VRC regarding her inability to get herself enlarged on bail, immediately contacted the concerned DLSA, and a pro bono counsel in Thrissur was appointed, pursuant to which the said lady was enlarged on bail.

1. The Sexual Assault Survivor (SAS) Scheme

The Sexual Assault Survivor (SAS) Scheme is another activity carried out by the VRC which seeks to empower survivors of sexual violence in order to recapture their agency and support them. The main aim of VRC through this Scheme is to re-integrate such survivors and not just re-entry or rehabilitation.

The Core Objectives of the SAS Scheme include:

1. Ensuring survivors of sexual assault have access to services which are responsive and appropriate to their needs;
2. Ensuring survivors of accessible, sensitive, confidential and appropriate quality services of legal and medical professionals;
3. Ensuring survivors of immense emotional and psychological support from the system, authorities, family, friends, kith, and kin; and
4. Ensuring that government policies and the practices of government bodies are relevant and responsive to the needs of survivors of sexual assault.

The Magistrates recording statement under Sec 164 Cr.P.C. are to inform the District Legal Services Authority immediately of the commission of the offence of rape/sexual abuse. They may also share a report with the DLSA in this regard. The DLSAs on their part, on identifying the sexual assault survivor are to interact with such persons, and their families, and can also seek the help of the Women Protection officers and Child protection officers while doing so. The VRC has also issued certain guidelines to guide the DLSAs while dealing with such instances.

When a SAS approaches the VRC complaining of sexual assault, the VRC takes steps to direct the SAS to one stop centres, ensure that they get enough aid to report to police, ensure help for medical examination, follow up with the police regarding the proper incorporation of charges and ensure that statutory mandates are followed by the Police after receipt of complaint. The VRC shall also provide legal aid to the SAS from the time of registering FIR to the conclusion of trial and in cases where litigations spill over to higher courts. It also extends rehabilitation facilities including facilities to continue education, and vocational skills.

The VRC has been able to successfully intervene, and provide assistant to victims of circumstances in a number of instances. Some notable examples include the assistance extended to three Sri Lankan women and their families who had been booked under Foreigners Act by rehabilitating them to a shelter home run by one of their approved NGOs in Kollam; and a number of POCSO and dowry death cases. In the case of harassment of a minor girl child by the Pink Police, the VRC was instrumental in rendering emotional support and other help to the child.

There have also been instances wherein women have approached VRC through 24x7 mobile number/VRC mail /any member for emotional support and the team was able to provide timely assistance and support to such women.

The Project has been able to effectively carry out its various activities and interventions due to the effective guidance, timely support, and selfless involvement of the present Member Secretary, KeLSA, K.T. Nisar Ahamed.

The counsellors of both the FCC and VRC have undergone common training programmes conducted by the Committee of resource persons from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Amritha University, M.G. University, the Department of Social and Behavioral Science, University of South Australia, visiting faculties of the University of Toronto, and also Dr. Nappinnai, a family counsellor with the Madras High Court for the past 15 years. There have also been talks and speeches by Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, and Senior Advocate Rebecca John, that were attended by both the FCC and VRC Counsellors, the lawyers, and psychologists involved.

Both VRC and FCC have thus, been truly remarkable, and able to mark several success stories. The future certainly does look promising for these two initiatives, in truly being a boon to society and to those in dire need for such assistance and guidance.