CLJD, NLU Delhi and Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice in collaboration with RMLNLU organised Training for Trainers for the functionaries involved in addressing violence against women

Lucknow:  Centre for Law, Justice and Development (CLJD), National Law University Delhi and Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice in collaboration with Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow (RMLNLU) organised Training for Trainers for the functionaries involved in addressing violence against women.

The 3-day Training programme was held between 6-8 July, 2023 in Lucknow and was attended by 47 participants from 16 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, comprising of police officials, law teachers, one-stop centre officials and protection officers.

The sessions were led by Prof. B.B. Pande, Advocate Abha Singhal Joshi, Advocate Renu Mishra, Dr. Kumar Askand Pandey, Mr. Chamkaur Singh, among others, who discussed various socio-legal issues including gender sensitization, understanding the core aspects of gender-based violence, developing insights into the criminal justice system and discussing the substantive and procedural aspects of various laws that relate to addressing violence against women.

Other dignitaries who graced the Training Programme were Mr. Ashutosh Shrivastava, Programme Manager, Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, Professor (Dr.) Sanjay Singh, Vice Chancellor, RMLNLU and Professor A.P. Singh, HOD, RMLNLU. The team of CLJD including (Dr.) Daniel Mathew and (Dr.) Amita Punj, Director, CLJD, were present during the Programme along with (Dr.) Aparajita Bhatt from NLU Delhi, who facilitated a session on Crimes in Cyber Space.

Professor B.B. Pande said that “this Training programme is not as much about learning but more about unlearning” while highlighting the broadening horizons of gender and how all of them need protection against violence. He underlined the significance of such Training programmes in enhancing the effectiveness of the legal system which, he lamented, is by and large “reactive” rather than “proactive.”

Mr. Ashutosh Shrivastava urged the participants to spread the learnings of this Training workshop to other people in their districts and emphasized that engaging with people at the ground level is the coveted next step to take.

Dr. Amita Punj, Director, CLJD, NLU Delhi thanked everyone for their participation and hoped that the workshop enables the participants to undertake self-reflection as the first-step in the direction of transforming the mindsets that constitute a huge obstacle in the path of securing a gender just society.

The Training programme was held under CLJD’s ongoing project titled Adhikaaron ka Gyaan, Unnati ki Pehchaan, supported by the Department of Justice, Government of India under its broader scheme of ‘Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice (DISHA)’.  The scheme focuses on raising legal awareness on violence against women and strengthening the redress mechanism in the state of Uttar Pradesh, specifically in the districts of Aligarh, Mathura, Bulandshahar, Prayagraj, Pratapgarh and Varanasi.