APCR Three-Day Legal Workers Training Camp of M P & Chhatisgarh 11-13 April 2008

APCR Three-Day Legal Workers Training Camp of M P & Chhatisgarh 11-13 April 2008

Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), in continuation of its nation-wide series of training programmes, organised a two-day training programme for the legal social workers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh states in collaboration with the corresponding zone of Jamat-e-Islami Hind on 11-13 April 2008 at its Headquarters in Bhopal. Twenty-six registered and some other delegates participated in the programme from different parts of the state. The participants included four women activists.
The programme commenced with the welcome remarks of the camp organiser Mr Anwar Safi. Mutual introduction of the participants preceded the keynote address of Dr Shakeel Ahmad, Director (training) of the APCR, who came all way from Ahmadabad to grace the occasion. In his inspiring deliberation, the learned speaker systematically analysed the historical factors, which led to existence and sustenance of oppressive tendencies quite peculiar to the Indian subcontinent. He was of the opinion that not only Muslims but almost all weaker sections of the country are presently suffering from ill-effects of those historical ingredients of tyranny, inequality and discrimination. He went on to state that in spite of the fact that India espouses a good constitution, its legislative trends, legal system, executive and judiciary are affected badly with corruption and unhealthy undercurrents, which more than often deny justice to a common man. Despite various schemes for legal aid systems by the government and civil society there is still no mass awareness and movement in the offing, which could alter the situation, Dr Shakeel explained. According him, that makes the case for establishing an organisation like APCR by some activists.
The president of Jamat-e-Islami MP and Chhatisgarh Mr Abdul Ahad delivered the presidential remarks of the inaugural session and encouraged the participants to come forward against the ongoing oppression and discrimination of weaker groups such as women, minorities, Dalits, and other marginalized groups.
The inaugural session was followed by one working session before lunch in which a Delhi-based expert Mr Abdul Rashid Agwan spoke on the given topic "Responsibilities of Legal Social Workers in Establishing Justice". He reminded the delegates that Islam has justice as its core value, as substantiated by the verse of Sura Hadid, which states that one prime reason for the rise of divine prophets on the earth is to establish justice among people. He further remarked that legal social work is a specialised work, which requires certain qualities from human rights activists. According to him, for any organised effort leading to fighting injustice and oppressive forces in the country, a battery of well-trained workers is required in each nook and corner of the country. The expert speaker mentioned generation of awareness, dissemination of information, motivation of victims, training of workers and developing them into a team, intervention in referred cases, paralegal support to legal experts, coordination with people, human rights organisations, media and the APCR and compilation and preservation of documents are some of the key responsibilities of the legal social workers.
In the afternoon session, a local advocate and board member of the APCR, Sajid Hossain delivered a talk on "Documentation: What and How". He enlightened the participants on the importance and delicacies of documents as evidence in the legal proceedings. He gave several examples by which he tried to bring home the fact how a simple document could change the whole course of a case. This lecture was followed by an informative presentation on "Right To Information" by Mr Abdul Rashid Agwan who discussed in detail about the Right To Information Act, 2005 and its various provisions, which empower a common man to watch and influence the course of functioning of government. Then, Mr Anwar Safi the Secretary (Social Service) of Jamat-e-Islami's host zone provided valuable information while speaking on the functioning and objectives of human rights commissions.
In the evening session, legal experts oriented the trainees on the pertaining provisions, procedures and details of First Information Report, Arrest and Case. The deliberations were followed by questions and answers. These topics enriched the knowledge and information of participants regarding legal matters that may arise as the cases of human rights violations.
The first session of the second day was engrossed with sharing of experiences among the participants who took keen interest in describing their experiences. In fact the participants had to be requested to deliberate in short for lack of time to accommodate their enthusiasm. The second part of the morning session dealt with some practical work under the supervision of Mr Abdul Rashid Agwan. First of all a questionnaire was circulated among the trainees in order to assess their background knowledge, interests and exposure in the field of human rights activities. Another assignment involved writing an FIR, complaint to Superintendent of Police, application under the RTI Act and complaint to Human Rights Commission. A report was presented by the examiner Mr Abdul Rashid Agwan on the background knowledge of the participants and their skill to write documents seeking justice and remedy to human rights violation. Names of the best respondents were announced for prizes.

In the afternoon session leading Muslim dignitaries of Bhopal joined the training programmes deliberated upon heir own experiences of human rights violations in the state. They include Qazi Azizur Rahman, president all India Masjlis Tameer-e-Millat, Maulana Masi Alam, member Muslim Personal Law Board and Mr. InamurRahman of SIO.
Mr Abdul Rashid Agwan and Dr Shakeel Ahmad addressed a well attended public meeting that was organised by Shahadat-e-Haq Trust on "What is Terrorism?" held at 9 PM in the compound of famous Moti Masjid of Bhopal.
In the first session of the last day Dr Shakeel Ahmad shared his experiences in fighting for justice in Gujarat. He recalled the post-Godhra events and felt sad on the total collapse of administration and law enforcement agencies at that time. The learned speaker gave details how the campaign for legal remedies on the atrocities inflicted by the police and administration took birth entailing the first case in the country where the nexus of police and administration with miscreants was exposed and in some select cases the culprits could be brought to the dock and got punished.
In the concluding session, the participants presented their views regarding the topics, their treatment by experts and arrangements of the training programme and their feedback was also recorded in the Evaluation Form. This part of the session was followed by concluding remarks of Dr Shakeel Ahmad and the last words of Mr. Abdul Ahad. During the training programme, a meeting of concerned delegates was also held for planning the future wok of the APCR in the region.
An organisational meeting of APCR was also held wherein following decisions were taken.
A state level organisation on the patterns of APCR will be got registered in the state. Mr Anwar Safi will be the interim in-charge till the organisation comes up.
Informal units at 15 places were formed and their respective convenors were appointed. They were provided with books on the subjects in Hindi and Urdu and were assigned the task of reading the same and doing related practical works.
Further informal units will be formed in four zones of the state for which convenors were appointed.