 I welcome our esteemed speakers, our chief guests, and all the participants. I welcome you all to this post-lum session, that is technical session number 4. Since the morning we have our inaugural session, then in the inaugural session we have Professor Nani Gopal Mohantha, Education Advisor to the Government of Assam, then Srimati Rumi Kumari Phukon, who is the former judge of Kohathi High Court, and we had the presidential address by our Vice Chancellor Sir, Professor Rajendra Prasad Das and votive thanks was delivered by Dr. Arundhati Chaudhary, our registrar. In the technical session 1, we have Mr. Ashin Chamoa, who is an advocate of Kohathi High Court and Speaker Arunita Pathak, who is the State Coordinator of Northeast Network, Kohathi. And in the third technical session, we have our additional SP, Papare Chhetriyama, and when she talked about the role of police in delivering justice to women. In this session, that is technical session number 4, we have with us, we are honored to have Bangita Acharya, who is the Convainer, Women in Governance in India and Director of Purva Bharati Educational Trust, Jorna. Her topic of delivery will be law, legal aids for the poor, contextualizing the issues of the victims with regard to social justice. I would like to request ma'am to kindly come and take the seat on the guys. So, let me introduce our honorable speaker now, Bangita Acharya is a renowned gender rights activist from Assam. She is the Director of Purva Bharati Educational Trust, a feminist organization based in Jorha. She has vast grassroots experience of working on the issues of women leadership, climate change and gender, women's security, human rights. In 2019, she was selected as the Education Champion by Nalala Hum to work on quality and inclusive education for girls in the tea garden of Assam. She was part of several pet-finding missions to document the cases of sexual violence, human rights and violations, cases of witch hunting and also to document the conflict situation in Assam. She has been engaging with the United Nations Mechanisms since 2010 in Geneva, New York and Bangkok. She was part of the Indian CSO delegation during EU lobby process in 2011. Universal Periodic Review of India in 2012 and UN counter terrorism mechanisms that is CTM review by New York in June 2012. Also, the Human Rights Council session in Geneva then commissioned on status of women in March 2013 and also working in open working group on sustainable development goals in New York since 2014. She was also in Geneva in July 2014 then review in Bangkok in November 2014. She was a fellow at the centre of Applied Human Rights University of York under the scheme of human rights defenders at risk from September 2015. Valdita Acharya is also a member of the Steering Committee of Women in Governance which is WING India, a network of human rights defenders and advisers to urgent action fund for South Asia. I welcome you all human to our university and hoping to have a delightful talk from you. I would like to request Dr. Indhami Deka to felicitate you. Good afternoon and after the lunch it is very difficult to listen to these technical sessions but I try to make it brief and make it interesting. I don't know how can I make this interesting. I thank you KK, Kismapalmahandey Open University and the Women Commission to invite me as a speaker to talk on the law and make it case for the marginalized. I don't want to use the word whole here and confidentializing the issues of victims with regard to social injustice. So since morning we have listened to the policy makers we have listened to the persons from judiciary we have listened to the persons from police and other feminist activities from Assam but here now I am representing the survivors of violence because as a government, educational trust or women in governance we have been working with the survivors since 2009 and I want to talk about their issues what they face when they are fighting for justice. I will be presenting here the survivors they don't understand what is this whole about the first threat code they don't understand how this legal system functions the only thing they understand is they want justice. If they face any violence whether it is at home it is in the society, in the workplace or anywhere where they go in public places in buses where they face violence they need justice. These are really technical tasks the first threat code and then even these women they don't know how to write it as our heart how to make first complaint. Like Anurita was here in the morning I am here we are presenting two organizations in Assam but there are seven women facing lots of violence in Assam few organizations cannot address this issue. So we need to have a system that system which has to be set up by the government of Assam we have visited against their less number of police officers in the thana there are seven judicial officers there less number of judges Like Anurita said why women should suffer women with justice, women's security should be at the focus So here I am going to cite some example of cases where women are still fighting the cases are old cases but still they are fighting for the legal justice I am citing an example because we have been talking about cases of rape, sexual assaults we have been talking about the genius crime we all know what happened in 2012 in Gandhi that he showed that gang rape case in Gandhi what we call the Nidhwara gang rape case before that there was an incident in Guwahati where GS wrote the incident I think when the whole women movement started talking about this amendment of the criminal acts or from the GS case itself the definition of rape, definition of molestation has to be changed I am citing an example of a jorha our organization is based in jorha we have been dealing with 4 528 cases that is one organization is dealing with 528 cases since 2020 till date we have been dealing with 146 cases and these 146 cases even most of them came during the covid time the statistics what we saw that was registered case in the NCRB data or police but there are several cases come to us that has been in our record so you can just understand the magnitude of the issue in 2016 one lady she came to us from jorha, from Jorga area to complete a case of a domestic violence and she was along with her doctors two doctors and her doctor actually that ain't a doctor she was very frightened she didn't want to stay at her home most of the times she wanted to go to stay at her natural uncle's place if she doesn't stay at home her father used to be his wife he has two wives both the wife and the child so that day also she came in the month of July she came to the doctor she came to our volunteer's house and she was explaining to the other case of domestic violence she was beaten up by her husband to heart and heart attack and at that point of time heart his setting point also came then she told us that heart she was being sexually harassed assaulted, raped by her own father because in case to be a case of rape and that is also by heart own violence you can follow from the police police arrested him and we talked about the first rape court so the incident happened in 2016 in the month of July and in session court in jorha 2017 in the month of May they found him guilty convicted him for seven years of imprisonment very fast everything happened he was in jorha jail but he appealed to vahari high court for the judgement case the case of a rape which was being reported by 14 year old daughter against the father but how this vahari high court like checked the facts and this is my industry to understand that vahari high court said in 2018 this case came to vahari high court and vahari high court released the accused in the during the covid time I think it is the month of May in 2020 in the vahari high court when we checked all the facts and figures we found that vahari high court judgement said the incident happened two months prior to the filing of the FIR that is the one point they have put secondly though they say though the victim one victim one is the the daughter victim the weakness one is the daughter witness one second was the mother of the daughter witness four was the step mother the high court say though the reverberate with each other that come from like from one right from the 164 statement to the statement giving the trial they all are that was it because like they didn't change their statements but the high court say they are not present at the time of the incident just can imagine like in front of everyone they are not present at that point of time so they release the accused and also say it will not then also will not categorically do this how are you get system functions it is your heart heart state range is important so they considered victim statement and where was the previous case it was taken into consideration but high court didn't take that into consideration while releasing the accused own father imagine any daughter will do that any daughter will make any false company against his own her own father he didn't consider that and after that what happened he got released during the covid time in 2020 he came back home even that was not informed to the companies that the the way he is being granted that the companies would be informed but he had in this case come the companies were not informed about this release so he came back home he started brutal petting his wife his children both the daughters and wanted to kill them with a gun somehow they managed to escape the daughter she was just 18 years of age the elder daughter she locked with her lover and the lady with her younger daughter and the second wife came to us during the covid time in the month of Saturday who just started our offices came to us we complete the police in action so he ran away so then there was a fear for their lives what we can do during the covid time the daughter we had said during the covid time women cases were not considered important cases police station they didn't register many of the cases the women when they are to fight companies so we found the safe place for them in Jorha so we gave her and we tried to find and locate the man through our different content we are trying to help police to find them through different content we talked to different people even though her family and everyone tried to get where he is located at that point of time and we found him in one village and that time he was in a family to marry another woman the case was told to that family and that uncle that that third lady then he told him you surrender before the police and then we will take action to take you out from the jail he surrendered and he was arrested and he was in jail last week he again went away we didn't disclose their location he doesn't know where his wife and daughter is living now second daughter he doesn't know where his first daughter is living now when he went home then started dating his own parents his parents they didn't support her in the second case in the first case but now when he went home and started dating his parents then he gave now to the family released in his party and everyone filed a complaint in the tea of Thana in Jodha this is just by the police after putting so much of pressure so one in one one in one is another, had that number for women and also we also talked to police and all and he was taken then police released him again and see we are giving him a chance something again it is very difficult to say this kind of thing that police version is in place but we really need to understand how the victims faces the struggle that is a police version they say if he does anything we might arrest or send him back so now till 2016 and today is October 2022 that family that his wife will be in fear and I will come to know because then we will fight the complaint to SP Jodha immediately informed the police station to arrest him but till today he has not been arrested but in this case he was convicted he was put in jail for 7 years he can be considered as his friend he is a father he is saying for girls, daughters but their mom cannot say for that but the Jodha court session court convicted him for 7 years he was imprisoned but after that what happened in that what happened didn't look into all the facts into the case they just facts and figure this happened before 14 years but in period of between time they have been raised women who have been raised by their own father to the family because he was being treated by her own father there is a one case about 18 years of age they both had a bubble went to a hotel in the hotel room this one also in Jodha they found a bubble they had it by Jodha police against that bubble they were isn't happening and there is nothing only something that that that some fault was happening and then police registered the case against the girl and the boy on the immoral traffic act in the jail for 1 month they both first rejected her bail because the investigating officer would not give the case dying on time so C.J.M. first rejected the bail then so much was served to the investigating officer and after that C.J.M got bailed from the Jodha session court these people they are adults not in that kind of relationship that sexual relationship was not happening between both of them for the commission purpose wrong so we really need to question on those things C.J.M. got bailed the girl got married after 6 months of the bail C.J.M now turned out from the house now stays at her own mother's place so in this case also now the trial has not have been started and we are talking about the first step in Jodha cases from Jodha because I am from Jodha and we are dealing the cases mostly from Jodha also he used to be a reporter he called us he saw a girl in the community roaming around in different places in Jodha and we found the police so police immediately went there and took the girl back to her to the police station by get that our volunteers also reached the police station then we found it girl was from Dharupuri district who is well she doesn't understand us who is well and we asked our colleague to talk with her in Saadri language then we found he mentioned the name of the ascent that he will take her to some officer to get her Aghavukar Dal since you believe so he came with that ascent that ascent took her to Jodha and put her to work as a domestic help in a very renowned Chinese person in his house in Jodha she was harassed by the police so she ran away and she told the whole thing but no investigation started on that so no action was taken even the doctor was also not questioned because she was not only one other two or three girls were in his house at that point of time we all went to the SP office and then filed a memorandum to SP to take SP action especially on the traffic for the that place and all May on 4th of May on 6th of May on 5th of May next day school lady was substituted from a middle school in Konankure district where it was written that her age was 18 years old and that school lady substituted himself as Sai Baba kind of stand and we are talking about first grade court and all but this is all happening then 18 year old so child you sit and do anything then you take this case we moved to the CWC Kudahari district because we came to know from the villages we came to know from our families was 15 year old but CWC Kudahari said she was 15 year old and then told her family to bring hardware so they taken Kudahari in a certain home so according to the family according to the villagers he was 15 year old but Johan police got the certificate that it was a middle school certificate to prove that he is 18 year old no investigation nothing has been done in this case no investigation has started all the trafficker from hardware came to know that trafficker was that day on the way to Delhi with Anothu 34 girls on a release on the trafficker he said I am about to reach Delhi but police didn't take any action no investigation started that is a one trafficker another trafficking case one of our volunteers she came to know about girls she was she was blocked with heart boyfriend I think she was 14 or 15 year old girl that that boy told heart that he will take heart to some place so that they can stay together but then she was not aware of anything but he took heart to the Bahati investigation along with two men they were taking him in the train to some places he was not aware of that he will know they reformed us it was some kind of police station a police modern police so my colleague wrote in a Facebook about this incident so that post went viral every one shared their post luckily one police officer detailed about their work and then she was being rescued from coach Bihar to train with us what to do like we have system organization we are very few people working on this but that's how we have to do the system is failed and how can we expect the justice for the Saudi but shockingly when the girl gave her statement before the CWC she told two police officer came in the train in the mobile police officer showing heart for the girls asking are you the same girl she said yes the police officer asked the other person who is she the other guy said my sister then the police officer and that boy he was taken in the 1500 rupees and left them home police didn't arrest that was that happened but when this whole post went viral then we informed we talked to all the police station sent her in the police finally in coach Bihar in the police rescued her so that was a relation by the girl not by us example of a domestic violence because we were talking about a domestic violence case they came to us during the covid time and we all know during the covid time she complained about that she was being physically and mentally harassed by her husband and her family laws and all so she asked us and we told her to contact to the one stop centre because that one stop centre is a one as you see they should provide support to the survivors of violence and she wanted safe residence order but at that point in time she would not stay at heart in law's place so she moved to her parents place so that officer from one stop centre said as your address is now changed so we cannot ask for a residence address and that time see so at that time see she did not get her rights at heart in law's place she moved there again in the same years she was being tortured and she made all the videos that went to the police station but that case was not resisted by the police station so we took her to the agency the deputy commissioner who is responsible for law and order application to the deputy commissioner and the deputy commissioner asked the SP to take action but still the trial has not been started for this case but in the whole process that women become empowered empowered to approach now and now she is helping other survivors she is fighting for her own rights as well as now she is also helping other survivors through us so now she joined us as a supervisor and she is doing so when we did different things during the fight was become empowered so this is one case because now we fight another two cases for the first victim but all these cases for all these cases the trial has not been started so this is the ground reality our previous speaker said very rightfully that we cannot talk about the cases in the AC room but I am bringing the cases from the ground to the AC room as people the decision makers sitting in the AC room those who are responsible accountable to provide security safety to women now we need to think about how we can deliver justice to the survivors of violence thank you so much