Online Jail Legal Aid Clinics inaugurated

Imphal, 15th August, 2021

E- Inauguration of Online Jail Legal Aid Clinic

Online Jail Legal Aid Clinics for the two jails of Manipur, viz. Central Jail, Imphal and Central Jail, Sajiwa were virtually inaugurated today by
Hon’ble Mr. Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice, High Court of Manipur & Patron-in-Chief, MASLSA in the august presence of
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Lanusungkum Jamir, Judge, High Court of Manipur;
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kh. Nobin Singh, Judge High Court of Manipur & Executive Chairman, MASLSA;
Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.V. Muralidaran, Judge, High Court of Manipur;
Hon’ble Mr. Justice A. Bimol, Judge, High Court of Manipur;
Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Chief Secretary, Government of Manipur &
Shri P. Doungel, Director General, Prison, Manipur.

Other dignitaries include the Registrar General, High Court of Manipur, District & Sessions Judges, Imphal East, Imphal West, Secretary (Law), Govt of Manipur, Special Secretary (Home) and judicial officers.

Shri Ojesh Mutum, Member Secretary, MASLSA welcomed all the honourable and respected dignitaries to the function, and stated that the opening of such online legal aid clinics will not only rejuvenate the entire legal services provided at the jails, but also that the rights of the prisoners are effectively secured during these troubled times.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kh. Nobin Singh, Judge High Court of Manipur & Executive Chairman, MASLSA stated that the idea of the online legal aid clinics is to make sure that the prisoners are able to exercise their fundamental rights during this pandemic. He further stated that there are already two Legal Aid Clinics; one in each of the two jails of Manipur. But due to the pandemic, they were not able to function properly in physical mode. Hence, the initiative for opening online Legal Aid Clinics has been taken up to ensure that the prisoners ensured effective and competent legal aid.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice, High Court of Manipur, after virtually inaugurating the online Clinics, highlighted that the opening of these Legal Aid Clinics are part of the campaign for enhancing effective legal aid and services for prisoners initiated by MASLSA. He stated that it is unfortunate that prisoners are often look down and treated as lesser human beings and hence it is imperative to educate them not only about their rights but also to help them in improving their overall living conditions. He further stated that the campaign will effectively enable all the stakeholders in providing the most effective services to the prisoners.

Shri P. Doungel, DG (Prisons) Manipur stated that the Jail Legal Aid Clinics were much operational from before and PLVs of the Jail Legal Aid Clinics are instrumental in providing effective legal aid and services. However, due to pandemic, their visits to the jail have been interrupted and restricted to any emergency visits or support needed by the prisoners. As per the amended protocols, the inmates were allowed to interact with PLVs of the Legal Aid Clinics, their family members or their lawyers through telephonic conversation and other virtual modes.

The programme was then followed by a live interaction between the inmates of the jails with the learned PLVs of the Jail Legal Aid Clinics, which is a sample of the online interaction to be carried out in the usual course of business from now on during the pandemic.

(Sorokhaibam Sadananda) MJS
Deputy Member Secretary,
Manipur State Legal Services Authority
ADR Building, Lamphel Court Complex,
Lamphelpat, Imphal