Ensuring Justice to Faceless People

Having units in all Trial Courts and helping the faceless litigants get affordable & quick justice are the prime objectives of ABAP Silver Jubilee celebration

Pramod Kumar

New Delhi: With a pledge to make all efforts to ensure quick, affordable and satisfactory justice to the last man of the society, the Silver Jubilee celebration of Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad (ABAP) formally began at packed Siri Fort Auditorium of Delhi on September 7. The legal fraternity all over the country—some by sitting in Siri Fort Auditorium, while others through live telecast on some web portals—joined the celebration. The Parishad aims to constitute units in all the Trial Courts during the Silver Jubilee year.
Addressing the opening ceremony Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad appealed to the lawyers associated with the Adhivakta Parishad to come forward for defending the human rights of the victims of violence. “Today it has become a fashion to defend the human rights of terrorists and separatists, while nobody think about the human rights of the innocent children, wives and family members of those who are killed by the enemies of humanity. The game plans hatched in the name of human rights of terrorists must be exposed,” he said. He also stressed the need to debate whether the educational institutions, which receive monitory aid from governments, should be allowed to enjoy the benefits of religious reservation. “Since the Parishad now has units from Kashmir Valley to Andamans and all other parts of the country, it should take a lead in starting debates on some burning issues,” he added.
Shri Manan Mishra, president of Bar Council of India, expressed full support to the Adhivakta Parishad in its endeavours to ensure speedy justice to the faceless people. He also stressed the need to curb anti-national voices being raised in some parts of the country in the name of Article 19.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav expressed satisfaction over the organisational growth of the Parishad, but called upon all the lawyers to read at least once the speech delivered by the late Dattopant Thengadi at foundation ceremony of the Parishad on September 7, 1992, which is a vision document for the legal fraternity.
Shri Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General, Government of India, while referring to judicial reforms stressed on collective efforts by all the stakeholders including the Government, judiciary, advocates and the litigants. He said onus of reforms cannot be left only at the government or the judiciary. Everyone has to ensure one’s participation. He warned that the work should be done swiftly, otherwise if the litigants once lose their faith in justice delivery system, it would be very tough to restore that. However, he hoped that something concrete would be done on this front also by the present Government.
ABAP organising secretary Shri Joydip Roy apprised the gathering of the organisational growth and said it fights not only for the cause of lawyers but also to ensure justice to the faceless people. He also informed how the Parishad workers got hundreds of people released from different jails in north eastern states and how they were reconnected to their families which had even performed their last rites considering them as dead.
National president of the Parishad Shri Vinayak Dixit said the silver jubilee is not just the moment for joy and celebration, but also for introspection and to move forward with some concrete goals. He also recalled the contribution of various visionaries who shaped the organisational structure of the Parishad in the last 25 years.
Chairman of the Silver Jubilee Celebration Committee and former judge of Supreme Court Justice Shri CK Thakkar called upon the lawyers to honestly discharge their responsibility to the society. Apart from former presidents of the Parishad Justice S Parbath Rao and Shri Baldevraj Mahajan, scores of legal luminaries were present on the occasion.