COURTING JUSTICE: A HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERING CONFERENCE

13TH AND 14TH JULY 2013, NLSIU, BANGALORE

Organised by the Alternative Law Forum (ALF), Bangalore and the Human Rights Project, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore

Day 1: 13th of July 9.30 am to 10.00 am INTRODUCTORY SESSION

Welcome Address- Sarasu Esther Thomas, Human Rights Project, National Law School of India University Introductory Remarks- Saumya Uma and Siddharth Narrain (ALF)

10.00 am to 11.30 am

Session 1- CHALLENGING IMPUNITY- I

Pervez Imroz, on lawyering in a conflict zone Babloo Loitongbam, on encounter deaths in Manipur D. Suresh Kumar, on encounter deaths in Andhra Pradesh Khan Abdul Wahab Khan, on anti-terror laws Moderated by Trideep Pais

11.30 am to 11.45 am 11.45 am to 1.30 pm

Tea Break Session 2- CHALLENGING IMPUNITY- II

Sudha Bharadwaj, on corporate impunity Manjula Pradeep, on sexual violence faced by Dalit women Yug Mohit Chaudhry, on death penalty Rebecca John, reflections on the criminal justice system Vrinda Grover, on prosecution and communal violence Moderator to be confirmed

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

1.30 pm to 2.30 pm 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm

Lunch PARALLEL BREAKOUT SESSIONS Challenges faced by Defence Lawyers

Facilitated by Jawahar Raja Presentations by Rebecca John and Sharif Shaikh

Family Law: Emerging Challenges

Facilitated by Jayna Kothari Presentations by Sadhana Pathak and Veena Gowda

Labour Law in a Neoliberal Era

Facilitated by Mihir Desai Presentations by Ramapriya Gopalakrishnan and Sadiq Ali

Land, Displacement and Adivasi Rights

Facilitated by Sudha Bharadwaj Presentations by Pradip Prabhu and Aradhana Bhargav

Prosecuting Violations by Armed Forces and Police Personnel

Facilitator to be confirmed Presentations by Pervez Imroz and Shishir Dixit

Legal Redressals for Violations based on Gender, Caste and Religion

Facilitated by Vrinda Grover Presentations by Sujata Jena, Prita Jha and Uday Kumar

4.00 pm to 4.30 pm

Tea Break

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

4.30 pm to 5.30 pm 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm 9.30 pm onwards

Summary of Breakout Sessions SPECIAL SESSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERING (Theme to be announced) Conference Dinner at NLSIU LATE NIGHT FILM SCREENING Deepa Dhanrajs The Advocate

Day 2: 14th of July 9.30 am to 11.15 am Session 1- MOVEMENT LAWYERING

Pradip Prabhu, on being a movement lawyer V. Suresh, experiences with the civil liberties movement- PUCL Amarnath Pandey, experiences with land and tribal rights movements, Anil Trivedi, experiences with peoples movements Maharukh Adenwalla, experiences with the civil liberties movement Moderated by Sitharamam Kakarala

11.15 am to 11.30 am 11.30 am to 1.30 pm

Tea Break Session 2- ENABLING RESISTANCE:SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERING

Mihir Desai, reflections on the HRLN model Geeta Ramaseshan, on the Tamil Nadu Legal Aid Board model Sudha Bharadwaj, on the Janhit experiment Nupur Sinha, on her experiences with the Centre for Social Justice

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Zaffar Qureshi (to be confirmed) Henri Tiphagne (to be confirmed) Moderated by Gagan Sethi

1.30 pm to 2.30 pm 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm

Lunch Session 3- OPEN HOUSE DISCUSSION ON ENABLING A NETWORK OF LAWYERS

Facilitated by Gagan Sethi and Arvind Narrain (ALF)

3.30 pm to 4.00 pm

Closing Remarks
Santanu Chakraborty and Darshana Mitra, ALF