A new startup with over 500 top legal experts has been helping migrants battling wage issues, and tenants facing unfair landlords, during this unprecedented health and economic crisis
Many migrant workers, stranded in Maharashtra, opted to ditch the governments complicated and time consuming procedure to return home, and began walking home. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Amit Kumar, a native of Karnataka, had started working for a garment factory in Andheri since 2017. When the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 23, Kumar, 32, along with five other colleagues from the state had to pack their bags and leave. "But there were no arrangements for our safe return. It was chaotic," he remembers. Kumar met a contractor, who promised to arrange for their train tickets. "He said we had to pay him Rs 2,000 per ticket; we knew we were being conned. This is when I received a text on WhatsApp about a citizens empowerment startup called Nyaykarta."
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Nyaykarta nyaykarta.com is the country-s first grievance redressal firm with top experts working on people-s issues. Launched on May 6, the platform has a team of over 500+ legal and human right experts from all over the country offering the vulnerable the legal help they need. "They arranged for our tickets, free of cost, and we reached home by the end of May," Kumar adds.
Four other migrant workers in Mumbai had a different fight ahead of them. Aditya Jain, a Supreme Court advocate, who is also attached to Nyaykarta, says, "Four migrant labourers who returned to their homes in Jaipur from Mumbai approached me because their employer hadn-t paid them wages due. We filed a case; the matter is still in court."
Landlords illegally forcing tenants out of their tenements is another key complaint during the lockdown, Nyaykarta founder and advocate Shubham Sharma shares.
While most charities are limited to offering consultation or help with documentation work, Nyaykarta members say they will help with everything from preliminary investigation, communication with the opposite party, coordination with the government authority and consultation. Sharma, says, "With 35 million cases still pending in Indian courts, 15 million new cases added every year and an expenditure ranging from R25,000 to R30,000 to a couple of lakhs per case, common people are subject to everyday harassment. They have no means to have their voices heard. Considering an average time span of 10 years for each case to resolve, approximately R30,000 crore per year is spent by litigants in courts. They face continuous frustration besides feeling helpless in the absence of justice within their means."
Sharma says he hadn-t intended to launch the initiation during the lockdown. "I dedicated almost six months to planning and understanding the need for such a platform. I have been working on people-s issues in an individual capacity and through my NGO Rajmanch for three years, but I felt the need for a dedicated platform with a team of experts," he adds.
Prem Singh, chairman of International Human Rights Organisation; Pratham Mittal, president of the Global Council of Jurists and scroll of honour by former Chief Justice of India, among many others, are on its roster. "People can submit a complaint from the comfort of their home instead of having to approach a lawyer. Once a complaint is submitted online, the team connects with the complainant to start work on the case."
Nyayakarta is offering free assistance to migrant workers, the economically weak, students, medical workers and disabled people during the lockdown. Sharma adds, "We will continue to provide free services even after the lockdown to the economically weak and needy. To cover expenses and sustain this initiative, we will take nominal charges from those who are economically sound. We are planning to provide a Nyaykarta card through which people can get one full year of free unlimited services from the experts for a nominal one-time fee." Cases of domestic violence, illegal job termination, non-payment of salaries and migrant worker issues are top priority right now. A majority of these come Bihar, UP and Rajasthan.
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