Pratidhwani (The Echo) is the core initiave of Sarothi to facilitate and increase access to justice for persons in custody. In the past year, the team of Pratidhwani has visited the Central Jail, Jorhat; Central Jail, Guwahati and Central Jail, Tezpur; and the District Jail, Morigaon; District Jail, Goalpara; District Jail, Mangaldoi; District Jail, Kokrajhar and District Jail, Dhubri to provide legal aid to the inmates.

Studio Nilima: Collaborative Network for Research and Capacity Building (Studio Nilima) organized a Capacity Building Workshop for the officers of the Correctional Homes in Assam in collaboration with Assam Prison Headquarters, Government of Assam and Assam State Legal Services Authority (ASLSA) on November 23-24, 2019.   Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam was kind enough to grace the inaugural session on November 23, 2019. The event was also illuminated by the presence of Justice (R) Madan B. Lokur, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India and at present, Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji; Mr. Justice N. Kotiswar Singh, Hon'ble Judge of the Gauhati High Court and Executive Chairman, ASLSA; Mr. Justice Suman Shyam, Hon'ble Judge of the.. Read More JailCBreport.pdf

Studio Nilima's team has been actively organising a weekly Reading Circle at the District Jail, Morigaon, Assam, which started from February, 2020 to reinstate the process of reading, learning, sharing and expression of thoughts through the medium of Assamese folklore with the inmates of District Jail, Morigaon.  What emerged from these converstations was a feeling of depression and suffocating loneliness among the inmates, that creeped in, in the evenings once the inmates were locked up in their cells. The sense of alienation from the society and deprival from the normal day to day activities, left them with complete lack of motivation, clawing at their sanity in these seemingly never ending monotonous hours of confinement.  With the initiation of the Reading.. Read More

The program is a joint collaboration between Studio Nilima, Bar Council of India, the Assam State Legal Services Authority and the Gauhati High Court Legal Services Committee to strengthen the skills and build capacity of the Panel of Amicus Curiae of the Gauhati High Court and the Legal Aid Counsels (LACs) of various districts of Assam. The program includes rigorous monthly workshops and training sessions with legal experts from the country as well as interactions with former Judges. The program endeavours to enable and empower legal aid counsels to serve their constitutional mandate of providing effective and competent legal services to individuals in need. Monthly interactions include detailed discussions on procedure including law on confessions, circumstantial evidence etc... Read More

Prisons, as an idea, has moved away from being torture cells to pacify the retributive character that the society and its legal system demands. In the past few decades, this change has been observed in the attitudinal conversion towards the administration of prisons, their conversion to ‘correctional homes’. The Indian state of Telanga has pioneered some exemplary prison reforms which are not only aimed for the welfare of the inmates but also the prison staff members. This holistic perspective on prison reforms has been the result of extensive pioneering leadership portrayed by Mr. Vinoy Kumar Singh, Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services. Amongst the changes brought in, the Vidhyadanam Yojna, which aims at providing secondary education to the inmates has.. Read More

Two of our team members, Moon Moon Laskar and Bonnya Boruah attended the inaugural event of book titled ‘Gambhir Chandra Nathor Jeevan Kotha’ on the occasion of first death anniversary of renowned social worker and Retd. Junior Engineer, P.W.D. Department, Late Gambhir Chandra Nath. The event also housed another attraction – the Darrangia Ojapaali performance by the inmates of Mangaldoi District Jail. ‘Ojapaali’ is one of the revered folklore forms of Darrang district. There was another research based book published during the same event by Darrang Sahitya Sabha titled ‘Darrangor Ojapaali’ which was inaugurated by Shri Idrish Ali. This book narrates “Ojapaali” which is the king of Darrang’s cultural heritage. The.. Read More

Free Legal Awareness Camp is an initiative of Studio Nilima to facilitate and increase access of the poor and marginalised groups of people to justice and to create legal awareness among them. As a part of this initiative a legal awareness camp was held in September 9, 2018 in Chatainguri, Salbari of Baksa District, Assam. The camp was conducted by Justice(R) Brojendra Prasad Katakey, Former Judge, Gauhati High Court; Chairman, State Police Accountability Commission and Director, Pratidhwani, a unit of Studio Nilima in the presence of Justice(R) Biplab Kumar Sharma, Former Judge, Gauhati High Court; Sri Nilay Dutta, Senior Advocate, Gauhati High Court, and R.C. Borpatragohain, Advocate General, Assam. It was attended by a large number of rural households and there was active.. Read More