New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday sought a report from the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) on a plea for implementing the NALSA's women integrated help system, which provides access to justice to women victims of violence, in all states and union territories. A bench comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia took up the petition for hearing.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioners The National Federation of Societies for Fast Justice and Aman Satya Kachroo Trust, submitted before the bench that results have been extraordinary in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. The bench noted that at times, pilot projects are taken up, but it does not mean that the project could be applied across the country in one go. The bench said NALSA also works under a budget, which is made available by the government and within those parameters, it works.
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The bench said before moving ahead with the matter, it would like to call for a report from NALSA regarding the scheme, which the petitioner seeks implementation across the country. The bench scheduled the matter for further hearing after four weeks. The plea, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, contended that it is a “successful project” and they are seeking its replication across the country and added that it is operating on a pilot basis in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh for the past three years.
The plea said that the project is implemented by the NALSA in partnership with the petitioners, the department of women and child development of Chhattisgarh and the department of social welfare of Jammu and Kashmir. The petition said it is a technology integrated system of the 181 women helplines, the NALSA legal aid helpline 15100 and all other government schemes that are meant to provide women and girl victims of violence a hassle-free access to the criminal justice system.
