Amidst the ongoing unrest in the Delhi region over various issues, violence had erupted in the North Eastern region of Delhi on 23rd February, 2020, which spread over 10 Police Stations in the region, resulting in communal clashes and affecting the normal livelihood of people living in the region.

As per the current newspaper reports, over 50 people have lost their lives and lives of thousands have been affected and due to lack of legal assistance, majority of the aggrieved failed to report incidents of loss of life and property before appropriate authorities.

With the aim of advancing legal remedy and helping the victims of the said violence hit North East District of Delhi, Help Desks at have been set up at various Police Stations, Community Spaces and Hospitals by the North East Legal Service Authority, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi. Apart from the Help Desks at Police Stations, the Authority also worked closely in association with Delhi Police in identifying few other places where such Relief Camp/Help Desks may be set up.

Highly affected areas of Ghonda Chowk, Shiv Vihar Tiraha, Mustafabad were also identified and Help Desks were installed at the said places. LACs and PLVs on duty at such Help Desks have been instructed to be present regularly since 28.02.2020 to 12.03.2020.

Each Help Desk constitutes of one Legal Aid Counsel (LAC) and one Para Legal Volunteer (PLV) which have been appointed from the panel of the DLSA. The Help Desks are functional for the whole day, from 09am to 07pm.

The Help Desks are aimed at:-
- Helping in drafting application for interim compensation, being given by the office of SDM (North East), a help desk has also been set up at the office of District Magistrate North East.
- Helping people draft police complaints/FIRs/missing persons reports etc. and apprising the victims and the general public about their right of free legal aid and compensation under various schemes of Delhi Government.
- To provide ease of access to any victim who is not able to go to police station due to fear or due to any other reason.
- To provide any other legal assistance as may be required by the victims.

As per the reports received on 07.03.2020, a total of 563 victims have been counseled by the LACs and PLVs deputed at various Help Desk and over 100 complaints have been drafted and filed at Police Stations. The LACs have assisted hundreds of victims and helped them in filing compensation applications. The Authority has also instructed the LACs and PLVs on duty to file the daily reports and data in prescribed form from each Help Desks and the same is to be submitted to the office of the DLSA North East.

Sh. Kanwal Jeet Singh Arora, Ld. Member Secretary, DSLSA (Right), Sh. Gautam Manan, Ld. Additional Secretary, DSLSA (Left) and Harjeet Singh Jaspal, Ld. Secretary, North-East DLSA (Centre)

To take note of the situation and supervise the effective implementation of the plan of action, an inspection visit was conducted on 07.03.2020 at Mustafabad, North East Delhi by Sh. Kanwal Jeet Singh Arora, Ld. Member Secretary, DSLSA, Sh. Gautam Manan, Ld. Additional Secretary, DSLSA, Sh. Pawan Kumar, Ld. Secretary, East DLSA, Ms. Vidhi Gupta Anand, Ld. Secretary, Shahdara DLSA and Sh. Harjeet Singh Jaspal, Ld. Secretary, North-East DLSA.

Ld. Secretaries inspected the Help Desk and interacted with the victims of the mob violence and made them aware of their right to free legal aid and the active role of DLSA in facilitating and spreading useful information regarding the compensation schemes. They also apprised the LACs with the necessary information regarding their role and importance in registering the complaints/FIRs and the redressing the grievances of the victims.

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