HRLN has filed a PIL to Compensate the Acid attack Survivor under Maharashtra's Manodhairya Yojana in the Bombay High Court

The Petitioner has filed a Petition against the State of Maharashtra on behalf of the Petitioner who is a 24 year old woman and she was attacked with acid in January 2012. She continues to bear scars even after repeated surgeries and has not received any financial assistance from the Government for her medical treatment. She requires further corrective surgeries which are expensive and unaffordable for her

The Petitioner through this Petition seeks directions from this Hon’ble Court directing the Respondents to give her compensation as mandated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in Laxmi v. Union of India, and to make provisions for her free medical treatment. The Petitioner further seeks to challenge the Government Resolution of the Manodhairya Yojana to the extent of the inadequate compensation to be granted to acid attack victims, and the conditions for claiming financial assistance.

The Petitioner has prayed before this Hon’ble Court as Under:

• That this Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the Respondent Authorities herein liable to pay the Petitioner compensation of at least Rs 10 lakh.
• That this Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the Respondent authorities to pay the Petitioner the expenses of her medical expenses which she has incurred so far.
• That this Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the Respondent authorities to pay the Petitioner her future expenses of her medical treatment and corrective surgeries.
• For an order and direction to the Respondent to adequately compensate the Petitioner/ Victim herein as quantified by this Hon’ble Court, for the loss and detriment suffered by her in view of the delay in payment of their due entitlements.

SC asks states, UTs to reply on plea alleging violation of RTE

The Petitioner has filed a Petition as public interest litigation under Article 32 directly in the Hon’ble Supreme Court as numerous reports have been released showing systematic and widespread violations of children’s fundamental Right to Education across the country, including violations of numerous specific requirements of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The Petition states that the lack of resources and failure to implement provisions of the RTE Act has resulted in a significant decline in education performance.

The petition seeks directions to the states and UTs to recruit and train one lakh additional professionally trained teachers to end the shortage of educators within a year.

The petition also asks for a further direction to the states and UTs to disclose the number of students admitted under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota in the state in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Based on the data collected from various reports, it is clear that the Right to Education is being violated across the country. These violations have persisted for years and remain today in face of the RTE Act's requirement that they be remedied within three years of it coming into force.

Therefore, the Petitioner has prayed before the Honorable Supreme Court for a Writ of Mandamus or other appropriate writ, order or direction to Respondents, directing that:

• The 37.7M children out of school make the transition to RTE compliant schools, by construction of approximately 1,50,000 new schools or the expansion of existing schools, within 6 months of today; that all states complete the required neighbourhood mapping within 6 months of today; and that new schools are constructed within 6 months of the completion of these mappings such that all neighbourhoods have a primary school within 1 KM and an upper primary within 3 KM (as per RTE Model Rules Part IV Section 6); and that all single-classroom schools be upgraded to be in compliance with the RTE Act Schedule 2(i).
• The States and Territories recruit and train 100,000 additional professionally trained teachers employed each month to enable the country to close the 1.2 M teacher shortage within 1 year from today; that additional full-time professionally trained teachers necessary to bring the Pupil-Teacher Ratios and the number of Head Teachers and Subject-Specific Teachers in compliance with the RTE Act Schedule 1; and to enable this, that the States and Territories upgrade existing and construct new public sector teacher training centres so as to ensure the availability of these required trained teachers.
• The Panachayats and ULBs complete an identification and mapping of all school-age children in their areas , taking special care to include migrant, nomadic, displaced, Dalit, denotified tribe, and other marginalized communities and to ensure that all of them are in RTE compliant schools within 6 months of today;
• The States and Union Territories upgrade all deficient schools  with the appropriate physical infrastructure so as to be in compliance with the RTE Act Schedule 2 within 6 months of today;
• The States and Union Territories regularize and make permanent all contract- and para-teachers in the country;
• The States and Union Territories ensure that teachers are not assigned to prohibited non-education duties, including mid-day meal preparation;
• The States and Union Territories ensure that all schools have a properly constituted SMC with compositions in compliance with RTE Act Section 21(1).
• The Central Government ensures that all schools run under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) be brought in to compliance with the RTE Act, particularly with respect to physical infrastructure, teaching hours and professionally trained teachers.
• The States and Union Territories to ensure that all private schools are registered with the government; to disclose the total number of students admitted under the EWS quota in the entire state in accordance with section 12 of the Act; and to ensure that, within 1 year of today, all the private schools in the state are in compliance with the Act.

HRLN has filed a writ petition to provide free medical, surgical treatment and rehabilitation package to the acid attack Survivor

The HRLN has filed a writ petition against the State of Haryana in the High Court of Chandigarh on behalf of the petitioner, a young woman of 30 years who suffered Acid Attack on 19.11.2009 at the age of 26 years since she refused to oblige sexually to her employer at Panipat, Haryana where she was working as a counsellor and was also pursuing her MBA in the same college. An FIR dated 20.11.2009 was registered at PS Panipat and she had to be an indoor patient at Indraprasth APOLLO Hospital’s, New Delhi from 20.11.2009 to 29.11.200.  She had to undergo 5-6 other surgeries at different times. She had already spent approximately Rs. 7.5 lac on her treatment and still approximately she needs more Rs. 13 lac which she does not have.

The petitioner who had lost her eye-sight and whose face also disfigured due to subjective and objective reasons had to exclude her from social interactions. She approached to Department of Women and Child Development for medical and other help which was declined by the said department on the plea that the scheme of the state is available only to the Acid Victims who had suffered acid attack after 02.05.2011.

The Petitioner has prayed before this Hon’ble Court, inter alia, as under:

To modify the policy dated 02.05.2011 subsequently amended vide dated 16.1.2014 qua the eligibility criteria being violative of Article 21 and 14 of the constitution of India and to set aside the order dated 29.8.2013, to provide free medical and surgical treatment to the acid attack victim, rehabilitation and compensation as per the policy issued by the state of Haryana and guidelines issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Laxmi vs UOI dated 18.7.2013, to reimburse the expenses which she had already incurred and during the pendency of the petition for directions either to release at least Rs. 5 lac to the petitioner directly or to give direction/instruction to the approved hospital i.e. IP Apollo at New Delhi to provide free treatment to the petitioner so that the petitioner’s treatment is not further delayed since the matter pertains to the right to life of the petitioner.