The Success Story of South-DLSA’s Legal Aid Campaign for Prisoners:

Since long time the DLSA/DSLSA has been conducting various activities, programme, camp, clinic front office and more. That recently the DLSA/DSLSA has taken a new initiative to inspect and ensure the effective legal aid is being provided to children in need of care and protection as well as legal assistance.
The recently carried out legal verification and aid campaign for prisoners / under-trial persons by South-DLSA was a great success and impactful on many counts.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 11, states: “Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.”
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe says (art. 6.2): “Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law”.
Acting in line with the above articles, South-DLSA carried out a massivelegal verification and aid campaign for prisoners / under-trial persons (UTPs) registering a big success. For this project, many PLVs were assigned duties to visit, verify and counsel dependents and families of UTPs in various areas of South –District, Delhi.
In most of the cases, we found out that UTPs were told innocents by their parents and family members. We also observed that UTPs were sole bread-winner in many cases due to which their dependents suffer unnoticed and untold miseries.
For example, in some cases, Person B told that A was sole breadwinner of her family and despite being innocent; A was arrested in a false case and made a UTP due to which not only B, but her entire family and dependents suffered even basic necessities and amenities of life.
If A & B had two kids – C and D, they both had to stop going to school.
In many cases, we also found out that due to social stigma, families shifted to some unknown locations despite lacking needful resources to do so.
We, during our visits to the families of the certain UTPs, observed that many family members were very hopeless and desperate to get their UTPs out of jail as soon as possible because they were big support to their families in all aspects.
For instanceone of our PLVs visited a UTP’s family which resides at Madanpur Khadar, Jaitpur, Delhi and another UTP’s family which resides at ShahpurJat, New Delhi and found out that they all were very frustrated and hopeless. They were so afraid and fed up with the police that they tried their best to evade meeting with our PLVs. But after much pursuit, PLVs succeeded to convince them that PLVs have been assigned a duty to help them. When PLVs met them, they were very frustrated. They were counselled and assured all possible help for them.
In the case of Shahpur Jat, mother was working as a housemaid. She said that her son was innocent and implicated in the false case. She had lost all hopes. But, the said campaign and counselling under the DLSA (South) not turned only her life into positive, but many desperate ones too.

Through the said campaign, the DLSA (South)/ DSLSA has done a great service to hundreds of families and dependents UTPs and ensured them for their rehabilitation. Because due to absence of A, entire chain behind A is suffering all kinds of miseries in their life.
DLSA’s legal aid helps not only ensure fairness in the justice system for UTPs, but also provides their family hope to live. DLSA/DSLSAprovides legal help to needy families of UTPs, women, veterans, senior citizens, homeowners, renters, families with children, individuals who are ill or disabled, survivors of sexual and domestic violence, and work for overall for the needy Delhiites.
DLSA’s legal aid programmes also help thousands of additional people avoid legal problems or keep problems from getting worse by providing information through various activities, conducting community educational sessions on legal topics, and training staff from other human service nonprofits on identifying legal issues where assistance is available. All of these services help preserve and protect a person’s livelihood, health and family. DLSA relentlessly works towards “justice for all.”