INVC,,
Haryana,,
Para-legal volunteers are being appointed in rural areas to promote legal literacy and Legal Aid Clinics have been set up for a cluster of four villages. Till now 514 such Legal Aid Clinics have been set up in Haryana and their number would soon be raised to 1000.
This was stated by Mr. Justice S. K. Mittal, Judge Punjab and Haryana High court and Executive Chairman of Haryana State Legal Service Authority. He was interacting with media persons in Rohtak.
The Haryana State Legal Services Authority in collaboration with Education Department of Haryana would organize 3rd Annual Function of Student Legal Literacy Mission on May 20 at Tagore Auditorium of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. It would be inaugurated by Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister, Haryana. The said prominent legal luminaries will attend this function.
Additional District and Session Judge-cum-Member Secretary Haryana State Legal Services Authority, Mr. Deepak Gupta said that the Authority has launched Student Legal Literacy Mission (SLLM) since 2009 in collaboration with Education Department, Haryana to create awareness amongst the student community and established Legal Literacy Clubs in 1544 Senior Secondary/Secondary Schools and 176 Colleges of Haryana under the National Legal Literacy Mission launched by National Legal Services Authority on 6th March, 2005 with its motto, “From Ignorance to Legal Empowerment”.
He said that ‘Student Legal Literacy Mission’ (SLLM) is a significant step towards implementation of the policy ‘Access to justice for all’. The mission has been established so that the students can understand law and is aimed at educating specified target groups, who are marginalized and vulnerable sections of our society through awareness and free legal aid. The main aim of this programme is to educate the society about their constitutional and statutory rights and duties, of which they are unaware. Accordingly, the National Legal Literacy Mission identified a set of beneficiaries, who are to be immediately addressed. These include children, minority communities, victims of crime, disaster and disease, prisoners, disabled, child and bonded labour, landless farming community, members belonging to weaker sections of the society, farmers hit by droughts and floods, trafficked girls and sex workers; and the poorest of the poor, through students community.
The said function is to be the winners at the State level function shall be awarded prizes of Rs. 11,000, 8,000 and 5,000 for the first, second and third prizes respectively. Besides this Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will also be given to the winner students.
Students on attaining the age of 18 year become entitled for exercising their right to vote. Female students on attaining the age of 18 years may also get married. Information about legal recourses available to them in the unfortunate event of their ill treatment by their parents, sexual harassment at the hands of their teacher or co-students, matrimonial cruelty by their spouse or partents-in-law or deprivation of their legal rights by others will be beneficial for them.
Increasing number of students indulge in acts which do not confirm to law. The Legal Literacy will help in achieving the object of Legal Services Authorities Act, that is of spreading legal literacy and legal awareness amongst the masses includes the poor, down trodden and weaker section of the society.
