The Human Rights Cell of the St. Joseph’s College of Law organised a set of events from 7th December, 2022 until 10th December, 2022 to commemorate the “Human Rights Week”. The event was planned to be a 4 day event which consisted of various events such as a Gender Sensitisation Workshop, Film Screening based on issues faced by manual scavengers, Workshop on countering hate speech and a field visit to Ejipura where the students met with and accompanied the BBMP Pourakarmikas on their daily duty.

Day-1
The Inauguration of the Human Rights Week was held on the 7th December, 2022 in the AV Room of the institution. The event was attended by around 50 students, consisting both of the Human Rights Cell members along with the other interested students. It started with a lighting of the lamp by Reverend Fr. Jerald D’Souza, Principal Pauline Priya, faculty and the student coordinators. It was then followed by a speech from the Director, where he instilled the feeling of fighting for human rights amongst the youth. Post this the Principal of the institution Ms. Pauline Priya had also addressed the students with her impactful words which helped the students solidify their desire to be women and men for others.

A group activity was then arranged where students in groups of five were asked to look at life from various perspectives as to the ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ of children, both from their own viewpoint as well as from the viewpoint of a parent which led to a Q&A session amongst the students in order to get their opinions on which to prioritise, wants of a few or needs of the majority. Later the Honorable Guest speakers for the event were welcomed and the students were arranged in groups of six where an eye-opening speech was given about various issues faced by women in the modern day which was then followed by students where they were allowed to voice out their opinions on the problem faced by women in various stages of their lives.

After this a short film “Call me Priya” was screened to the students which opened the eyes of the predominantly urban audience to the real issues faced by rural women in their home, workplace, and society on the whole, which was then followed by a general speech by the second guest speaker. Refreshments was served by the faculty to the students which marked the end of the inauguration as well as the workshop.

Day-2
The second event of the week was a Film screening which was held on 8th December, 2022 in the AV Room of the institution. The screening was attended by around 10 students. The film that was screened named “Kakkoos” follows the daily lives of people who are engaged in the work of manual scavenging.

The film showed about how the society has a never changing attitude towards the caste system which is believed to be no longer relevant in India. After the screening ended, the floor was open for a discussion amongst the students where the students gave out their opinions on the prevalence of caste system in India and about how manual scavenging as a work is hazardous to humans.

The guest speaker (Advocate) for the event then addressed the students about manual scavenging and the threat it poses to the members of the human race. The speaker then went on to describe and explain the remedies that can be provided to people who take up on the work of manual scavenging.

Day-3
The third event was a Workshop on how to counter hate speech which was held on 9th December, 2022 in the AV Room of the institution and around 17 students took part in this workshop.
The workshop was conducted by Ms. Manavi and Ms. Shilpa who are both practicing advocates.
The workshop started with the guest speakers explaining what a Hate speech is in detail.
The speaker then went into the details on what is considered as a hate speech and how and what kind of speeches can be determined as a hate speech. They even delved into the laws and legislations that deals with hate speech on the whole.

Further they discussed about the various ways to overcome hate speech which then led to an activity in which the students were provided a form. The form was regarding a request to the Inspector to register a FIR and criminal action against hate speech. The students then had to come up with ideas to fill the details in the form. This was an activity to make the students understand on how to register a complaint to the police in cases of hate speech.

The students were then provided with print outs of the Indian Penal Code which had sections pertaining to hate speech. The speakers explained in detail about the working of the laws and how the laws are applied in cases. There was a discussion amongst the students and the speaker on various ways in which hate speech can be tackled.

Day-4
The fourth and the final event of the week was a Field visit that took place on 10th December, 2022. The venue of the field visit was the Government school located in Ejipura. A total of around 25 students were a part of this visit.

The students, as a preparation for the field visit made placards and posters to encourage and empower the Pourakarmikas.
The students met and interacted with the BBMP Pourakarmikas and accompanied them on their daily duty. The Pourakarmikas shared their concerns and issues regarding various problems and the major one being their wages. They then spoke about how the fight and strikes that was done by them to increase their salary amount. They even mentioned about fights amongst the Pourakarmikas themselves and even with the third parties i.e, the contractors, the BBMP officers.

Few of them even shared their experiences on how other people view them and the humiliation they feel when others discriminate them and disrespect them just on basis of their occupation. They even disclosed their family and financial issues to the students.

The students got to experience and learn the ground reality of the BBMP workers through this visit. After the meeting and interaction, breakfast for everyone was served. The students volunteered to serve food to all the Pourakarmikas. The field visit came to an end with a small photo session with the Pourakarmikas.

A meeting with all the members who attended the events will be scheduled soon where all the students along with the faculty will gather to discuss about the issues and to see if there are any possible solutions to solve their problems.