CID brings Seva with legal stamp

KOLKATA: The criminal investigation department’s family counselling centre, Seva, now has legal sanction. Cases, resolved or otherwise, will now be referred to the Lok Adalat. West Bengal will be the only state to have this facility, according to a senior CID official.
The decision was taken earlier this month at a meeting between CID additional DG S.I.S.Ahmed, Lok Adalat registrar Ashish Senapati and additional district judge R.K. Bag.
Seva, the brainchild of CID special superintendent Ramphal Pawar, was inaugurated on December 11, 2002. It is a platform where aggrieved parties, primarily women, can find support and legal aid and is free.
Till date, 92 cases, mostly about domestic violence and maintenance, have come to Seva. “We have taken up 32 cases because each involves a substantial time. Some of them have already been amicably resolved,� Pawar said.
Women can walk into the Seva office or come through their local police station. At Seva, their case is considered by trained counsellors and “specially sensitised police personnel�. Both the aggrieved and the alleged aggressor are brought before the counsellors and efforts begin to find a mutually acceptable solution.
The Lok Adalat, which will set aside dates for hearing Seva cases, may even take up resolved disputes from the centre. Six NGOs dealing with women’s issues and human rights — Swayam, Sanlaap, Gana Unnayan Parishad, Women’s Sahayog, Institute of Social Work and Human Rights Law Network — send two counsellors by rotation to Seva. Two cases are handled every day. If more than two persons come, they are given a future date. About 20 lawyers provide free legal aid to those who come to Seva.