Legal aid lawyers are human rights defenders: Justice Muralidhar CHRI national report, ‘HOPE BEHIND BARS?’ on legal aid launched
Sep 09, 2018 New Delhi, India Justice S Muralidhar, Justice of the Delhi High Court, today defined legal aid lawyers as ‘human rights defenders’, and urged them to abide by laws addressing human rights issues and not solely depend on the IPC and CrPC.

Concluded: Launch of CHRI national report on the state of legal aid in India entitled ‘Hope Behind Bars’
Below is the transcript of the speech given by CHRI International Director Sanjoy Hazarika at the launch: Justice A.P. Shah, former CJ of the Delhi high court and member of CHRI EC, Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar, Dr. Srikrishna Deva Rao, Vice Chancellor of NLU Odisha, Mr. S.S.
SC verdict is ‘call for action’ to Commonwealth Nations bound to colonial laws: CHRI
Sept 09, 2018 New Delhi, India The unanimous Indian Supreme Court judgment which ended the ban on consensual gay sex in private is a landmark verdict which is a “call to action” for all countries in the Commonwealth which still use regressive, outdated colonial law, the Commonwealt
Legal Aid at Police Stations
The early phase of the criminal justice process is the most crucial period for those arrested or detained for an offence. Presence of a lawyer at this phase is important to safeguard the rights accorded to them.

Charging GST on fees payable under India's RTI Act is blatantly illegal
Image courtesy: https://www.businesstoday.

Concluded: Workshop on RTI for civil society representatives in Bangladesh
CommonwealthHumanRightsInitiative(CHRI),NewDelhiinpartnershipwithTheHungerProject(THP),BangladeshorganisedadaylongworkshoponRTIwithcivilsocietyrepresentativesfromBangladesh.Theworkshopheldon01st September2018inDhakaandwasattendedbyaround30participants.

Concluded: Workshop on the use of RTI in Journalism in Bangladesh
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), New Delhi in partnership with The Hunger Project (THP), Bangladesh organised a day long workshop on RTI with journalists from Bangladesh.
CHRI calls recent Pune Police raids and arrests excessive, calls for transparency on charges
Aug 30, 2018 New Delhi, India The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) today expressed deep concern on the recent raids and arrests of social and civil rights advocates, among whom are human rights activists, academics, lawyers and priests.
Bring back ballot papers, Opposition tells Election Commission
Ahead of the all-party meeting called by the Election Commission, the Congress announced its request for ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines which it had alleged were tampered. Aug 27, 2018 (hindustantimes.
Kashmir Encounter: Releasing Court Martial Details Will Cause Public Outrage, Says Army
New Delhi, India Aug 21, 2018 The Indian Army is using all available legal means to suppress the public release of documents relating to the trial that found six army personnel guilty of killing three Kashmiri civilians in the Macchil fake encounter, HuffPost India has found.