Trust provides free legal aid in Covid-related cases

Dhwani Legal Trust brings together 25 lawyers who take up briefs for those facing problems created or accentuated by the pandemic

A not-for-profit organisation has launched a Covid legal assistance helpline.

The Dhwani Legal Trust launched a helpline on Monday in collaboration with two other organisations — Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali and Karnataka Covid Volunteers Team.

“We are looking at domestic violence, sexual harassment, child abuse, media-related grievances, and education-related and medico-legal problems,” says Ashwini Obulesh, founder.

For example, lawyers look into cases of medical negligence and hospitals denying treatment and overcharging patients and schools taking advantage of parental distress.

“How we proceed will depend on the case. Sometimes, something as ad hoc as a call helps resolve the issue,” says Ashwini.

Twenty-five lawyers from across Karnataka have signed up to volunteer. They will be giving their time and effort to help people affected by the pandemic.

The trust has been working to make healthcare accessible to all. It recently filed a PIL, with health rights group Karnataka Janaarogya Chaluvali, seeking health services citizens are rightfully entitled to under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The petition, now before the High Court, sought directions to the state government to create a portal that provides real-time information on the availability of hospital beds, oxygen, ventilators and vaccines.

It also called for a vaccination effort that does not solely depend on online platforms.

About the trust

Ashwini Obulesh, who graduated from the National Law School of India University in 2013, went on to work in corporate law for a few years before she began practising at the High Court.

She formed Dhwani Legal Trust two years ago to give legal aid for people in marginalised and vulnerable groups. The trust helps women, children, persons with disability, victims of social oppression, and socially and educationally backward sections.

How to contact them

Call 86603 90464

Write to [e-mail]