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{{Orphan|date=December 2016}}

The '''Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group''', also known as '''JagLAG''', is a non-profit that provides free legal services to [[adivasi]]s in south [[Chhattisgarh]]’s five [[Naxalite|Naxal]]-affected districts.

== Establishment and membership ==
In July 2013, Shalini Gera, Isha Khandelwal, Parijata Bharadwaj and Rupesh Kumar moved to Jagdalpur in [[Bastar district|Bastar District]] to establish the group.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-group-of-lawyers-trying-bring-law-to-lawless-bastar-region/article7735079.ece|title=In Bastar, a group of lawyers try to bring law to a lawless region|last=Dahat|first=Pavan|date=7 October 2015|work=The Hindu|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> They were joined by Guneet Kaur a few months later and by Devesh Agnihotri in 2016.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/find-us-a-house-we-are-also-victims-of-war-say-hounded-bastar-lawyers/story-VW8TEaSS1AyBXiGto2WvuO.html|title=Find us a house, we are also victims of war: Hounded Bastar lawyers|last=Ghosh|first=Paramita|date=12 March 2016|work=Hindustan Times|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/t5K8jPWw2ooX7mqlHvFiPK/A-few-good-men-and-women.html|title=A few good men and women|last=Masoodi|first=Ashwaq|date=7 October 2015|work=Live Mint|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> In mid-2015 Guneet Kaur, Parijata Bharadwaj and Rupesh Kumar left the group.<ref name=":0" /> In mid-2016 Devesh Agnihotri left the group. Nikita Agarwal and Priyanka Shukla joined the group towards the end of 2016. Shalini Gera moved out in September 2017. Priyanka Shukla left the group in August, 2018. The group is presently hosting [[Shikha Pandey]], a David Leebron Human Rights Fellow for a year.

== Work ==
The group began by filing requests for information under the Right to Information Act. They found that jails in Bastar District were severely overcrowded, that most inmates were awaiting trial ('under-trials' rather than convicts), and that when these cases finally reached the courts many ended in acquittals.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/world/shoestring-legal-aid-group-helps-poor-in-rural-india.html?_r=1|title=Shoestring Legal Aid Group Helps Poor in Rural India|last=Bearak|first=Max|date=1 March 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://thewire.in/12482/in-chhattisgarh-pressure-mounts-on-lawyers-taking-up-cases-of-tribal-prisoners/|title=In Chhattisgarh, Pressure Mounts on Lawyers Taking Up Cases of Tribal Prisoners|last=Kumar|first=Raksha|date=6 October 2016|work=The Wire|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> Since then, JagLAG have focused primarily on providing legal aid to villagers who they believe have been falsely accused in Naxalism-related cases.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

The group's most high-profile case is that of [[Soni Sori]], who has been charged, along with her nephew Linga Ram Kodopi, with extortion and unlawful activities for allegedly accepting money from the [[multinational corporation]] Essar, in return from protecting the company's operations in the state from the Maoist groups.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/interview-jaglag-lawyers-evicted-bastar|title="This Kind Of Terror, We Have Not Seen Before": An Interview With The Lawyers Evicted From Bastar In Chhattisgarh|last1=Kaushik|first1=Krishn|date=9 March 2016|work=The Caravan|last2=Dev|first2=Atul|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref>

== Disbarment and eviction ==
On 6 October 2015, the Bastar Bar Association passed a resolution prohibiting any lawyer who is not registered with the local Bar Council from practising in the Jagdalpur courts. The resolution prevented JagLAG lawyers Shalini Gera and Isha Khandelwal, both registered with the Delhi State Bar Council, from representing clients in Jagdalpur''.''<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/chhattisgarh-police-intimidate-jagdalpur-legal-aid-group-malini-subramaniam|title=Chhattisgarh Police Intimidates Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group And Journalist Malini Subramaniam|date=18 February 2016|work=The Caravan|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.lsuc.on.ca/newsarchives.aspx?id=2147485737&cid=2147502180|title=India: harassment against human rights lawyers Shalini Gera and Isha Khandelwal|date=nd|work=The Law Society of Upper Canada|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4myvBWaG8jqZ3ZSLV9SdmRhS1E/view|title=Condemn the Harassment of Peoples Lawyers in Jagdalpur|last=Indian Association of People's Lawyers|date=19 February 2016}}</ref> Under Section 30 of the ''Advocates Act of India,'' a local bar association has no authority to prevent a lawyer from practicing in any court in the country. Gera and Khandelwal have responded by transferring their registration from the Delhi State Bar Council to the State Bar Council of Chattisgargh.

In February 2016, the Bastar District Bar Association passed a resolution that any local lawyer who co-signed a memo of appearance with JagLAG would have to sever ties within ten days or be debarred.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://barandbench.com/jag-lag-may-end-up-leaving-chattisgarh-after-relentless-police-action/|title="We can't leave our clients behind", JAG-LAG exploring options after relentless State oppression|last=A|first=Anuj|date=24 February 2016|newspaper=Bar & Bench|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://thewire.in/23899/evicting-the-hope-of-justice-in-lawless-chhattisgarh/|title=Evicting the Hope of Justice in Lawless Chhattisgarh|last=Manecksha|first=Freny|date=7 March 2016|work=The Wire|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> In the same month, JagLAG's landlord was called to the City Kotwali Police station and pressured to evict his tenants.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/chhattisgarh-police-direct-owners-to-evict-jagdalpur-legal-aid-group-journalist-of-accommodation/|title=Chhattisgarh: Police direct owners to evict Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group, journalist|last=Ghose|first=Dipankar|date=19 February 2016|newspaper=The Indian Express|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> Gera and Khandelwal were forced to relocate to Bhilaspur.<ref name=":1" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:2013 establishments in Chhattisgarh]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Chhattisgarh]]
{{improve categories|date=September 2025}}

Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group - Revision history

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